


Dark Angel's Fire IX thru XII

by thebasement_archivist



Category: The X-Files
Genre: Relationship(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2000-12-15
Updated: 2000-12-15
Packaged: 2018-11-20 12:52:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 77,848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11335923
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thebasement_archivist/pseuds/thebasement_archivist
Summary: Note from alice ttlg, the archivist: this story was originally archived atThe Basement, which moved to the AO3 to ensure the stories are always available and so that authors may have complete control of their own works. To preserve the archive, I began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in June 2017. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address onThe Basement's collection profile.





	Dark Angel's Fire IX thru XII

**Author's Note:**

> Note from alice ttlg, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [The Basement](http://fanlore.org/wiki/The_Basement), which moved to the AO3 to ensure the stories are always available and so that authors may have complete control of their own works. To preserve the archive, I began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in June 2017. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [The Basement's collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/thebasement/profile).

 

Dark Angel's Fire by Megaera

Dark Angel's Fire IX - Captive  
by Megaera

DATE March 1999  
E-MAIL Feedback to FEEDBACK is life  
DISTRIBUTION Any time any place anywhere  
RATING NC-17 SLASH  
CONTENT WARNING m/m m/f sex, violence  
SPOILERS None  
SUMMARY Alex faces a new set of enemies and is held prisoner by an insane "woman."  
DISCLAIMER All X Files Characters belong to Chris Carter and Fox, I've just borrowed them for a while. I am not making any profit out of this, it's just for entertainment. The character of Kulain is mine but you can use him if you like, Mr. Carter  
COMMENTS This story is set in an Alternate Universe where demons can interact more freely with humans and can shapeshift. If you don't like my laws of physics, go find your own.  
THANKS to Czara for the expert Beta reading and encouragement.

* * *

Dark Angel's Fire IX  
Captive  
by Megaera

********

I will fasten you with inextricable brazen bonds to this rock, far from men, where you will perceive neither the voice nor the shape of anyone of mortals.....The burden of your present suffering will continually distress you....

Prometheus Bound - Aeschylus (525 - 456 B.C.)

********

She watched Alex silently as he slept. He was reclining as best he could on the uncomfortably hard bunk, considering both wrists were fastened to the wall above his head. At some point last night, he had once again tried to free himself with brute force, and before he had given up the attempt in sheer exhaustion, he had badly cut and bruised his skin under the metal circlets. His young face was still shadowed with pain, even in repose.

He moaned slightly, shifting in his sleep, perhaps calling a fragment of a once beloved name, a man he yearned for more than any other. But she had taken *that* one away from him forever. He lay now with full lips parted, and she longed to kiss him, to slide her tongue into his mouth and taste him. But he would inevitably fight her. She expected it of one so strong. It would take many hours of patient, but enjoyable taming before he would accept her. But he was half human, so he would inevitably yield in the end.

He lay on his back, head slightly to one side, legs slightly bent, and spread apart a little. She enjoyed the sight of him this way. So vulnerable.

She let her eyes run across the long, firm legs, encased in tight jeans, the narrow waist, the thin cotton shirt that could not conceal the small roundness of tight nipples pressing out against the fabric. Again, it was hard to restrain herself from biting them until he cried out.

But he belonged to her now, and so she waited with inhuman patience. Why waste such a succulent prize by acting too hastily? There was an innocence about him while he slept, a lusciously tempting helplessness. She forced the feelings of hunger down with an effort. Alex would need to be cultivated carefully, to learn new loyalties. He must be made to forget about Kulain and his feeble human partner. A pity Kulain had never implanted control genes in his humans. It would have been so much easier to get what she wanted. But, there were ways...... She licked her lips. The re-education of Alex Krycek would be gratifying. But in the end, inevitably, he would serve her, as a human should.

********

Alex dreamed of a time when things were good. When he lay cradled in Fox's arms and in Kulain's bed, every night. He felt Mulder's touch, the pressure of his lips across Alex's cock, the laughter in his eyes as he made his lover beg for more. The delightfully whimsical side of Mulder that only his lovers were allowed to see, and then only in moments of intimate trust.

Then the dream turned dark. The world swirled with blackness, and Mulder lay sobbing at his feet, turning a wretched face towards him in mute denial. And he fought with all his strength to pull Mulder against him and tell him it was a mistake. He battled the weight of his own treacherous body. It was useless, and even seemed to amuse the creature who forced his body to obey. It ignored his screams and his sobbing pleas. His protests were futile. In the end he, like Mulder, was forced to retreat to a snivelling corner of his mind, to try and stay sane.

There were dark hints of purpose in the alien's mind. It knew him, with a forced intimacy that bordered on violation, but its thoughts were a swirling maelstrom beyond his comprehension. There was a malice towards humanity that made his mind shrink as far away from it as possible.

The swirling hatred entered his dream, faces of his captors and Tiamat laughing cruelly at his helplessness. The only faces he saw in his long isolation.

They were almost fanatically careful to guard him, Tiamat's three lackeys. They even fettered him with a longer chain when he needed to use the bathroom, never ever giving him a chance to escape. He could only guess at the threats the mad demon woman had used to warn them to take care. They didn't even give him a way to kill himself. To deny the alien control over his body.

When he woke, his face was wet with tears.

********

Mulder sat, as he had done for most days this week, on a comfortable leather chair, in the main room of Kulain's tower. He didn't move for most of the day, staring desolately into space, utterly miserable. Kulain had tried to speak to him once, but Mulder had turned away from his lover. Sean, Kulain's new lover, was surprisingly kind, bringing him food and coffee, gently urging him to rest when he needed to. The life has been drained out of him, though, by the loss of Alex. And the only thing he had ever wanted or needed.

Mulder watched out of the high tower window, as the sun set in brilliant reds over the city. It was a stunning natural sight, even here. Once again, as it had on countless occasions since the betrayal, his eidetic brain produced an image of Alex, arms wrapped around his lover, as they both leaned into each other, watching a southern states sunset. It had been one of the more memorable images of their last vacation together in New Orleans. And now it was all he had of Alex. The tears started again.

Dully, he stirred himself, when finally the pain had diminished a little. He decided to have a shower and try to focus his mind on something else. That was part of the problem. If he had his job at the F.B.I. he could have lost himself in paperwork or a case. But the directors of the F.B.I. had suspended him, claiming conflict of interest, when he had become Kulain's spokesperson. Demons weren't usually associated with justice, and having an infamous, gay, demon lover working for the Bureau wasn't the best public image for them.

And unjust though it was, he had few illusions about whether he would ever be trusted there again, since his very public relationship with Kulain.

He decided to try and get away tomorrow. Maybe visit Scully, take her to lunch. He needed someone to talk to.

*******

Sean was experiencing one of the strangest periods of his life. He had been brought back to Washington by his lover. The strange, wonderful, terrifying being who had been responsible for so much upheaval in his life. They had only spent a single night together, yet he felt as if he had come home. The demon had possessed him like no other ever had, taken him to the utmost heights of pleasure. Even now he wanted more. Then he had been all but abandoned, as Fox Mulder's life went into freefall. And he liked Fox too much to take Kulain away from him, even for a minute.

Even though he loved Kulain so much.

Mulder looked ghastly most of the time, his expression vacant, his eyes reddened, so haggard and haunted that Sean could only pity him. As far as he could gather, Alex had dumped him. It didn't sound like the Krycek he knew, who had sobbed in loneliness in his arms, longing for Mulder, the last time they had met. But what did he know about relationships, with a broken marriage behind him, and a new gay lover?

Sean had been so lost in thought that he hadn't hesitated to walk into Kulain's room, hoping for a glimpse of his heart's desire. The Lord of Washington was nowhere to be seen. But Mulder was there, fresh from the shower, sitting on the bed in only a towel. So the brutal scar marks on his back were plainly visible.

Sean must have gasped, or made some noise, for Mulder turned, startled. For a moment there was an almost unnerving hope there. Then Fox saw who it was, and his disappointment showed clearly. Mulder saw the direction of Sean's astonished gaze, and flushed slightly.

"I've had a few enemies over the years," he said softly.

"They.....look like bite marks!" Sean couldn't restrain his curiosity.

"Yeah!" Mulder assented. "A demon held me prisoner for months. Ash. He wasn't very gentle with me." Mulder sounded distant, uncaring. But the gleam of tears betrayed his emotions. "He raped me and I slit his throat for it." Green fire briefly glowed in his eyes.

Leaving Sean gaping at him, he went to dress. A small circle of gold caught the light on a fine chain round his neck.

********

Alex Krycek's captors had come for him in the night. One moment he was asleep on his narrow bunk, the next, two of them were pinning him down onto the hard wooden surface. Then something wet and slimy was being poured onto his face.

The struggle was over almost before it had begun.

Tendrils of oozing darkness had entangled themselves inside his head and all hope disappeared. He felt his body stand, when the cuffs were loosened, but he was just a passenger inside his own head. There was no control, no matter how much he fought against it. And how he fought!

But in the end, inevitably, he could only watch and try to learn more, in the faint hope that he would find something to his advantage.

*******

Tiamat awaited her latest visitor with amusement. This individual had contested Kulain in vain for years now. The Lord of Washington had always proved himself to be more deceptive and manipulative even than this human master of the craft. But she had certainty that her species were supreme. Still, there was always room to think creatively, to use such a tool with care and gain advantage in the game of empire. This male was well connected in government circles, which was where Kulain was making his stand, and had useful inside knowledge. He also had the confidence of the alien faction, though they were no less cautious in using him than she was.

The door opened, and her alien entered, wearing Alex's body. She felt a small prickle of anger, that the alien should so thoroughly possess something which she thought of as hers, but she ignored the jealousy. She would use the oil alien just as she used the human, but in the end, *she* would be the winner over all. For was she not of demonkind, and so, superior to both alien and human.

Alex came and sat on her left, a smile playing about his lips as he became aware of her scrutiny. And, in truth, it was hard to avoid watching the long legs which she found inexplicably fascinating. The alien didn't object when she reached out and rested her hand on Alex's knee, slid it upwards to feel the firmness of his sensitive inner thigh. She wanted to bite it, but knew the alien wouldn't have tolerated physical damage.

//Soon Alex//

Her new human associate entered, and she enjoyed the look of consternation he displayed so much, she forgot about her plans for Alex.

******

The Cigarette Smoking Man had intended to meet a new ally the aliens had recommended to him. A rogue demon, apparently, who could provide them with vital background knowledge of the demons and their weaknesses. But they had been careful to warn him how unstable she was. How delicately she must be handled, since, in their opinion, she was totally insane. But he hadn't expected to see Alex Krycek smiling, facing him as he entered the room.

For a moment, he wondered if Kulain had set him up. Then he noticed what Tiamat was doing behind her desk. Fondling Alex's leg.

No way on Earth was Alex interested in a liason of that sort. For a start, he hadn't been interested in women for a long, long time. And Krycek had far more sense than to get involved with an insane and dangerously psychotic female demon. He admitted to himself that the situation was intriguing.

Then the swirl of darkness crossed intense green eyes, and he understood.

It was quite a demonstration of her power!

And he didn't miss the implications of Alex's present condition. Demons could be taken over and their bodies utilised by the aliens! A ready source of slaves for them, stronger and more efficient than humans, which would satisfy their needs without having to take over all of humanity.

Tiamat was in some ways brilliant. It was a solution he had never dreamed of, for two thorny problems that had tormented him. The President was going to love it. He assumed a falsely charming expression and politely listened as she outlined her mad schemes for the future, trying to disguise his contempt for how wholly unrealistic they were. It would be easy to deceive her. And all through her tirade, she kept on absently fondling Krycek. He was transfixed by the slow movement of a long nailed forefinger down across the most sensitive part of Alex's inner thigh, an area of skin rich in nerve endings.

Even after the Smoker had left, hurriedly, she continued to play her little game. She became aware that she was creating a physiological response in Krycek's body that had little to do with ownership of his mind. Her hand strayed upwards, feeling the considerable hardness under her fingertips, straining against the rough denim fabric of his jeans. Chilling alien-tainted eyes watched her, intrigued.

No! She would not share Alex with the alien. She would not take the chance that the alien would get a taste for Alex's body.

Reluctantly, her hand withdrew.

********

Alex came out of the latest bout with the oil alien, aching and weary. He was in the familiar surroundings that had been his world for the last three weeks. In his little cell, once again securely held, with no hope of release. It was getting harder and harder to stay in control of his emotions these days. He belonged to Tiamat and her alien friend in every way that mattered. He had a sudden flash of memory. Her hands touching him, caressing him. The nausea that doubled him over then, wasn't entirely the after-effects of the alien.

The revelation that she was working with the Cigarette Smoking Man had astounded him. Tia, the aliens and the Consortium. A frightening combination, and Alex feared he knew who their first targets must be.

That thought brought on another hopeless round of struggle with the shackles around his wrists. Every night, he tried to get free, and every night, it proved useless. Just made his wrists bleed again. But he *had* to try.

His efforts would not please his guards. One in particular was a class one bastard. He hated Alex, and often tormented him verbally. He also tended to make his prisoner wait until the last minute, to relieve his physical needs.

It didn't take long before the small camera that watched him alerted the guards to his latest self destructive bout. Tiamat herself entered with the guards, and Alex immediately stopped his struggles. Cold golden eyes surveyed him, assessed the damage to his wrists, then a look of fury crossed her face. She whirled towards his captors and her fist shot out in a powerful blow, connecting with the nose of one hapless guards.

"He is damaged! Again! You should have taken more care to protect him. Have the cuffs padded so he can do himself no further injury, or *you* will be punished."

//Nice to know she cared. Then why did Tiamat's apparent concern fill him with nameless dread. He didn't fail to notice the hatred in the injured guard's expression, as he stared at his prisoner. It had to be that particular guard, the one who already hated him.//

Alex didn't have long to wait, before the man got a none too subtle revenge on him. It happened when they chained him so he could visit the shower, as happened every couple of days. To minimize his chances of escape, his hands were pinned behind his back and his ankles were linked together, so he could only move in a slow shuffle. Easy then, for the guard to stick his foot in Alex's path, and shove hard with his shoulder at the same time.

Alex had no warning. One moment he was walking, the next, he was crashing to the floor, landing on his all too human right arm.

There was a sickening pain that jolted his upper arm. Alex screamed in agony, and his tormentor, with a smirk, ground his broken arm into the floor with a boot, wringing a shriek from his victim. Alex heard distant laughter, then he fainted.

*******

"He tripped! I tried to save him, but it was too late! I'm so sorry." The guard tried to play down Alex's misfortune. "It was an accident."

Alex huddled on his bunk again, shirtless, this time not wanting to move. Only one arm was cuffed now. The other felt warm and fuzzy, with only a distant memory of pain. They had drugged him to set the bone, and he felt almost intoxicated as a result. Whatever he had been dosed with made him want to giggle, and when Tiamat leaned over him to examine his injury, some devil inside him made him blow a flirtatious kiss at her. There was almost human warmth in her response, and a hand lingered on his head for a moment.

Then she turned to look at his tormentor. He returned the gaze levelly, barely hiding his contempt. The fool obviously hadn't a clue what sort of creature his boss was, only that she was well connected in the Mafia. Because what happened next came as a total shock to him and his colleagues. The small, golden eyed woman *shifted* and suddenly a huge serpentine demon with a woman's almost-face reared above them. Faster than a human could react, golden coils whipped round the guard, tightening rapidly, like an enormous boa constrictor. Crushing the man to a pulp. Alex watched, dazed, his mind trying to comprehend what sort of creature controlled his life.

The crunching of his bones and the blood spurting out between serpent convolutions rapidly sobered Alex. The other two guards cowered in terror. Tiamat's serpentine head reared upwards, like a cobra, then arced downwards in a blur towards her prey, long front fangs piercing the skull like an eggshell. No point in wasting a human delicacy. The two humans fled, shrieking, strong men reduced to abject terror by witnessing the demon's actions.

Alex had a good idea now what sort of creature wanted to subjugate him. Remarkable what the sight of blood could do to clear the mind. He still felt dizzy and his arm now ached sickeningly when he tried to move it. But adrenaline had wiped away the effects of the anaesthetic.

Tiamat finished her gory repast, then her eyes swung to look at her latest possession. Good, he was still there, beautiful and tempting. With a huge sigh, which sounded incongruous in a snake, the demon rested her gold scaled head on Alex's flat stomach possessively, and closed her eyes. Sleep was a natural consequence of a good meal, among her kind.

Alex froze when the demon touched him. Rested its deadly head so close. The fangs that had just committed an outrage, that protruded from the demon's mouth, were slightly indenting his bare skin He began to shiver, as much from hopelessness, as from the shocking events of the day. One gold slitted eye opened and regarded her comfortable pillow.

"Cold, Alex? I didn't think to get you a blanket. No matter, I will keep you warm."

Several coils curled across his body.

The worst thing was that the warmth *was* welcome.

Somehow, though he had always known there was something almost reptilian about Kulain, he and Mulder had overlooked its significance. *This* was what Kulain suppressed inside himself, when he fought to control his dark impulses. And what Alex and Mulder had yet to conquer inside themselves. He saw the darkness unveiled in Tiamat, and that was the most frightening thing of all. Pain and exhaustion drove the thought from his mind, as incredibly in the circumstances, he slept.

*******

Sean miserably watched Kulain and Mulder as the two of them sat, tangled up in each others' arms. He felt left out and alone. And what he felt for Kulain was driving him out of his mind. He had thought it was bad before, when being near the demon had filled him with a longing he found impossible to deny. But watching the two of them together was ten times worse.

Kulain hugged Mulder to him. His Fox pressed close to his side, clutching at him, miserable and needing his strength. He didn't mind. Mulder's dependence was pleasing. And comforting.

He sensed Sean's scrutiny. He raised his head, which had been buried in Mulder's hair, and saw the younger man watching him. Sean's face was flushed and he was breathing rapidly. Kulain could smell his arousal.

Hmmm. He had been neglecting Sean of late. Though keeping the human's needs unsatisfied would only make his lovemaking more intense when he finally indulged Sean. A hand slowly extended towards the human, inviting him into Kulain's embrace. Slowly, hesitantly, Sean approached, and sank down onto the couch next to his lover. Kulain drew him in close, and with a contented sigh, Sean leaned against him. Mulder stirred briefly, made a small questioning sound. Kulain stroked his back gently, and he sank back against his lover, burying his face in the soft fabric Kulain wore. The demon loved the sensual feel of expensive human designed textiles against his skin.

The warmth of the two bodies next to him almost convinced Kulain that he was still in blissful possession of his glorious Alex. It had been a spectacular partnership. Now he had one emotionally crippled agent, and one inexperienced bodyguard.

Mulder wasn't sure what feelings he should have about Sean. How could he feel jealous, when he had to take a lot of the responsibility for him. The blue eyed Englishman hesitantly smiled at him, and he reluctantly returned it. When they were within inches of each other, both held in Kulain's arms, he couldn't exactly tell him to get lost. Mulder sighed. Sean was like a puppy-dog. His adoration of Kulain was impossible to hide.

"It's okay. I know you need him too.." Mulder could understand that. "I guess we ought to talk." The puppy-dog looked absurdly grateful.

"Can I buy you lunch tomorrow?" Sean asked hopefully.

For the first time in ages, Mulder had to repress the urge not to laugh.

"Yeah. Alright. But make it expensive!"

//Kulain watched the by-play between them with interest. It was the first time since Alex's departure that he had seen Mulder rouse himself from his self destructive depression. He had been right then, the two of them would eventually bond together. The attraction was definitely there. He meditated sadly that a certain other would have added so much fire to their interaction. How could he have been so mistaken about Alex? But never one to dwell on the past, he began to plot how he was going to get both of the two lovers he still possessed into his bed tonight.//

*******

Alex dreamed, of a time when things were better. When it was his heart's desire to lie, wrapped in Fox's arms, after they had both satisfied their bodies in glorious lovemaking. Sometimes Mulder had rested his head on Alex's chest, then woken him when those talented lips strayed downwards. The sweetness of being enclosed in the hot mouth, of being worked by the muscles of Mulder's throat. He couldn't remember a time when he had felt as good.

Now he was distantly aware of being touched. Of a tongue swirling round the head of his wakening cock. Of a tightness enclosing him, sucking him in, busily employed in making him come

//.......No..... something isn't right..........//

The pressure redoubled, driving away whatever coherent thought he possessed. Drawing him in, closing around him, withdrawing in delicious torment. His hips pushed helplessly upwards against the other, against Fox.

//.......But Fox can't be.......//

He lost all control, his body bucking as he came, his semen jetting into the other's mouth. And came fully awake. Tiamat, once again in human guise, was busily licking him clean. A deeply satisfied smile on her face as she gently rearranged his clothes. For a long moment, he could only stare in horror at the demon, as she licked her mouth like a cat who'd had the cream. She rose to her feet, reached out almost negligently, and patted her pet's head. He was learning. Alex flinched, which only pleased her further. It would be so boring if he made it too easy. Pleased with herself and the world, she started to leave. Then paused for a moment at the door.

"I'll have a present for you later Alex, because you've been so good!"

Alex sank back onto the bunk, tears running down his face. All of his protests, all of his fighting against her had come to nothing in the end. He was as securely held prisoner as before, but now he had given her what she wanted. He felt as if he had betrayed everything in the world that he valued. A long time ago, when he was young and naive, the Consortium had valued his services as assassin and whore. And now, he had come full circle, offering his body once again, in exchange for his survival.

Desolately, he turned his face to the wall and huddled in misery, cradling his aching arm as best he could.

*******

Sean wasn't quite sure how the three of them had ended up in bed together. But then Kulain had always been able to lead him around by the hormone influenced parts of his body. Perhaps it was because he had gone for so long without sex with the demon. Or perhaps because there was a heady exhilaration in being so close to Kulain, Something utterly arousing in the smell and taste of him that made Sean rock hard and aching for the hot burn that he would feel when Kulain powered into him. He wasn't aware of quite when he had begun to touch Kulain, run his fingers across the strong body, but within moments, he was rubbing himself uncontrollably against Kulain, moaning helplessly, his brain turning to jelly. He had caught a brief glimpse of Mulder, wide eyed at the out-of-control sensuality of Sean's movements, and their rapidly escalating passion. And he had been subliminally aware that the display he was giving was turning Mulder on, despite his misery. The way Mulder had flushed, his lips parting, his hand unconsciously fingering his nipples.

Kulain too, was becoming aroused by Sean's delightful display. The younger man was one of the most responsive humans he had ever encountered, completely willing to surrender himself to Kulain's desires. And totally wanton in the way he moved his body. A demon's dream come true. No wonder he had wanted Sean so much. He felt himself responding to the human's touch, and in swift response, caught Sean's hands and drew him towards the bedroom. He paused at the door, and assessed Mulder. His other lover was watching him, half afraid, half longing.

"Fox. I don't want you to be alone tonight. Come here!" Perhaps he phrased it like too much like an order. But Mulder compliantly came towards him, ready to do what he wanted. Too scared of losing his other lover to protest. Kulain sadly reflected that he didn't just miss Alex's fiery spirit, his Fox had lost much of his enthusiasm for life now that Alex had gone. With astonishment, Kulain realised that he would have enjoyed Mulder's arguments more than this spiritless docility.

Kulain drew Mulder down onto the bed. Sean had pulled his clothes off in the few steps between door and bed, and lay on his stomach already, tempting and eager to please. He had a delectable ass. Mulder watched uncertainly. Now that Kulain had enticed him into the room, he wasn't exactly sure what he should do next. Kulain gently stroked a taloned finger down his cheek.

"Enjoy the show. And if you feel like joining in, neither of us would object."

Mulder blushed, enticingly.

Kulain turned to pay Sean some attention. The human was rubbing his cock, which was hard and fully erect. He raised one finger, glistening with pre-cum, to his mouth and licked it off, taking his fingers in deeper and suckling on them. Kulain would really have to do something about that particular habit. But at the moment, Sean was arching his ass off the bed in unmistakable invitation. Kulain decided to indulge him, and lubricating a finger, slid it into Sean's tightness. The human screamed, he was remarkably sensitive to stimulation. Kulain enjoyed teasing his writhing body for a while, then pushed Sean down, slipping a knee between firm thighs to induce the human to stretch his legs wider.

A quick glance at Mulder showed his other lover to be breathing heavily, his fist jammed in his mouth to disguise his moans of arousal. He gave Mulder an evil grin, that only seemed to make his Fox's condition worse. Mulder rolled onto his back next to them, trying not to watch, but failing, as his attention was drawn by Sean's uninhibited display. And his other hand was working away between his legs, independent and instinctive, grasping at a respectable erection.

Kulain decided it was time to give Sean what he was, by now, begging for. Easing the human carefully open, he thrust down into the bodyguard. Sean's screams became ecstatic, incoherent, his hips thrusting towards Kulain, frantically fucking himself on Kulain's large cock. He didn't last long, and Kulain gasped as Sean came his involuntary tightening almost bringing the demon to climax. But he managed to control himself with difficulty, and rolled on top of a very aroused Mulder, catching hold of firm thighs and spreading them further apart. Mulder gasped as Kulain's weight pressed down on him, feeling the hardness probing into him, before the agent had time to react. His lover kissed him so hard it bruised his mouth.

Kulain's swift and none too gentle penetration took Mulder's breath away. But he was too close to the edge himself to stop Kulain's glorious thrusts, and instinctively wrapped his legs around the demon, pulling him deeper. Feeling the hardness driving so intimately inside him that he wasn't sure where one of them ended and the other began. Within moments, he too came, and this time Kulain let his own body find release, as Mulder's semen spattered against him. He lowered his mouth, and began to lick at Mulder's essence, wringing a moan from the bullied lips, as he savored his Fox's taste.

Kulain lay between them afterwards, one of them curled into him on either side, warm and contented for now. Sean was sleeping, a blissful smile on his face. But Mulder was awake, though he hadn't spoken. Kulain understood.

"I see your pain, little one. I wish it could have been different. But you have to go on with your life." He fingered the ring Mulder wore around his neck. "This doesn't help you."

"I know." Mulder pressed closer. "But it's so hard sometimes. I can't just stop loving him, not after so long. I know I should hate him, but I can't....."

Kulain sighed. "Yes....... I know.....I wish he was here too!" He drew Mulder closer and held him until his Fox drifted into uneasy sleep.

*******

Alex awoke, uncertain of what had disturbed him. His body needed more rest lately, as a consequence of his injury. Tiamat laughed softly. She was sitting on the edge of the bunk, cradling something in her hands.

"Your present, Alex."

She held up a golden circlet, studded with what looked like rubies. A collar for him, linked to a fine metal chain. Alex shook his head, shrinking away from her.

"No way! You're not putting that thing on me!" It was more than just a token protest at wearing her baubles. When he looked at the collar, Alex felt a gut twisting nausea, as if there was something wrong, harmful about it. He didn't want to touch it. His instincts screamed at him. Fight or run. Unfortunately, he could do neither. He could only try to bring his injured arm up to fend her off, uselessly.

"Please. Don't put that on me...... I..... I'll do whatever you want......" He choked back a sob.

"But I want *this*, Alex!" She would not be denied, and was in fact enjoying his struggles. Disregarding his pleas, she fastened the collar round his neck, and stood back to watch the entertainment.

Alex screamed as fire encircled his throat. Somewhere he was burning, heat washing over his body. Trying to fight it only made it worse. It was as if his skin was blistering on the inside, and a point of fire stabbed with precision into a specific part of his brain. Vainly he clawed at the gold, and found to his horror that it had fused to his skin. The initial pain began to fade, slowly, but it seemed to leach some part of him away. Instincts and perceptions he had known as part of his demon self. They were gone.

"How does it feel to be human again, Alex?" Tiamat was amused. "As long as you wear my collar, you can't touch any part of what Kulain gave you. I invented it especially for you." She unfastened his wrist from the wall, and tugged on the chain that was fastened to his neck. "Come along my sweet, shall I take you for a walk?"

He tried to *shift*. To call on his other self. It was like crashing into a brick wall that had become a barrier around his mind. The harder he struggled, the more it hurt. A yank on the chain fastened to his neck brought him back to reality. Gold eyes assessed him coldly.

"You face a choice Alex. You can choose to live, and obey me. Or you can die spectacularly in my bed tonight. Either way I get to have you. So do you choose life or death?"

Terrified green eyes regarded her. At least he was learning the proper respect now.

"Life," he whispered.

*******

Infect her with fear and desire, for Cybele's pale. Lash at yourself with your tail knot. Drown the whole mountain with roaring. Let the red-mane dreadfully crowd the brute-neck. She looses the leash........

Catullus

*********

The Cigarette Smoking Man entered Tiamat's office that morning in eager anticipation. He wanted to check on her progress, to find out how close she was to making a deal with the aliens that would benefit them both. She had been observed by them for some time now, a trial period in which they worked together to eliminate opposition in the city of Las Vegas. As a major population centre near the secret government facilities in the Nevada Desert, it was a crucial staging post for their plans.

Alex Krycek was in the room, half-reclining on the black leather couch. He had his legs drawn up beneath him, and rested his chin on his hands, seemingly at ease. At least the bitch wasn't fondling him this time. He wondered what Krycek's alien master would have to add to this meeting.

He smiled falsely at Tiamat, and she responded in kind.

"Have you decided to join the aliens?" the Smoker asked. She nodded briefly.

"They have many advantages I find useful," she said. He glanced at Krycek, who watched him now, coldly.

"A pity we couldn't infect Mulder with one," he said. "But I owe his family a favour, so I'd rather find a way to deprogram him. If he can be taken away from Kulain's influence, I don't think it'll take too much to break him. Remake him as a good little government agent."

Astonishingly, something hot flared in Alex's eyes at that. To his complete surprise, Alex was apparently himself.

"You son of a bitch! If you touch him, I'll rip your throat out with my bare hands!"

"Alex! Silence!" Tiamat reached down and pulled on something at her side. With a yelp, Alex's head was jerked forward until his chin impacted with the side of the couch. Sudden terror registered in his face. The Smoker realised that Alex Krycek was chained like a dog to the arm of Tiamat's chair. And he was scared enough of his captor to do as he was told. The sight was delightful, and not a little fulfilling. He laughed softly, and the bitch smiled at him. He wondered how such a pretty little thing could scare Krycek, but then anyone would be intimidated by insanity, particularly in a demon. Not that he respected her, but then, he had never seen any evidence of her demon heritage.

"I would love to have one of those things round Kulain's neck, and make him come to heel for me!" the Smoker mused. Tiamat seemed delighted by the thought. The Smoker reflected that she hated her own kind almost as much as humans.

"Oh yes! Such a delectable idea! But he would be hard to tame, you would have to de-claw him, of course, unlike this pretty human of mine." Tiamat shook the chain, making Alex flinch, his green eyes very wide.

"I'm teaching Alex to be good. He's a slow learner!" She told her guest. Alex looked as if he was going to be sick. But he found enough energy for a murderous glance at the Smoker, when Tiamat wasn't watching. How amusing.

"Your pet isn't doing as he's told. He still wants to kill me!" This was an opportunity for revenge the Smoking Man wasn't going to overlook. But even he didn't expect the response he got, as he suddenly found out how dangerous an ally he had.

Tiamat's head whipped round, in a manoeuvre impossible for human bones to tolerate. The rest of her body followed, suddenly becoming serpentine malignancy. And in a single strike, she bit Alex on his neck, just above the collar, fangs sinking deep, pumping venom into his unprotected body. He convulsed, eyes rolling back in his head as toxins entered his bloodstream. She let his unconscious body fall. It was as good a time as any to accustom him to her bite. She had only employed a minimum of her venom, enough to partially immunise him, once he recovered from its effects. But the lesson would be timely, both for him, and for her human ally who watched, white faced.

Oh yes. She wanted to be able to bite Alex with impunity, so he may as well grow accustomed to it.

******

Mulder woke that morning, curled into a delicious warmth, feeling the rise and fall of another man's chest beneath his cheek. Drowsily he snuggled into the other. A contented sigh came from his pillow, he felt the vibration of the sound through his skin. A hand came up and ran its way through his short hair.

"Fox......"

The sleepy response came as a complete surprise. Mulder realised he was lying naked in the same bed as Sean, holding him in an unsought for intimacy. Kulain had opportunely disappeared, and knowing him, it was probably part of some demon plot of labyrinthine complexity. Mulder raised his head and found blue eyes watching him, hesitant, filled with shy affection.

The puppy dog was back.

And Mulder blushed as he realised that he was enjoying it.

******

The world was fire and ice, a turmoil of pain and indescribable fear. He was aware, subconsciously, that he had been hurt in some way that defied description. When he reached out for the part of him that was strong, there was an absence that tormented him. A sense of transformation. And somewhere a shocking pain that stabbed into his neck. It was as if he was living his life under a huge lens, as his body became acutely sensitive to every sensation, even the touch of a single strand of hair across his face. Yet at the same time, he was detached from his body, not in control any more. He moaned feverishly, as the venom surged through his body. A voice was whispering things in his ear that seemed to make no sense, disjointed phrases, a mixture of loving promises and hated filled curses. He shook his head, powerlessly trying to escape the madness that they represented.

*Yes. Oh yes Alex. You're going to be so good for me. You're a whore of course. You're mine. Such a pretty face. Mine! Yes you are. HE can't have you.....*

The speaker sounded familiar, a woman, but he felt an intuitive revulsion for her, without understanding why. The speaker faded out for a while, as he drifted between consciousness and oblivion.

The air near him shimmered, and Mulder appeared, a Mulder thinner and paler than he remembered, who was sobbing uncontrollably. He tried to raise his hand, to reach out, but his body failed him. Mulder's eyes became huge dark pits that swirled with blackness, then he was gone. Kulain stood there instead, snarling, striking at Alex with fully extended claws. Then he was gone too, and the Smoker was laughing at him, becoming impossibly snake like as he hugged Marita.

Alex hallucinated, screaming at his brain's conjurations, and begging Mulder to forgive him, on the brief occasions when his lover's face faded in from the mists.

His next awareness was of a rushing heat through his body, a fire of sorts, divorced from his mind. Then a distant surging pull on his body, familiar though his mind couldn't quite remember when he had known it. An overwhelming sensation of physical pleasure. A soul deep wrongness that made him whimper in despair.

He tried to claw his way to reality, but the venom still flowed in his veins.

The mad voice again, this time filled with a terrible gloating.

*Yes Alex my love. We're going to have such interesting times together. You're so good. So giving....... So enjoyable.....*

It all faded.

*******

Sean and Mulder pulled up at one of the most exclusive restaurants in Washington, on their lunch date. Mulder had driven them there in his expensive Porsche car, which was a present from Kulain. He tossed the keys to the parking valet, and promised him a good tip. Then he and Sean headed into the Foyer of the restaurant. What Mulder hadn't anticipated were the paparazzi in constant star watching attendance in places like this. The flash of cameras caught them both by surprise. Sean grinned challengingly. Mulder accepted the unspoken dare, and wrapped his arm around Sean's waist.

"You sure you want to join the circus?" Mulder murmured in Sean's ear.

"Yes. I want everyone to know. I'm not ashamed of loving Kulain. Or caring about you" Mulder smiled shyly. "Besides, they'll say what they like anyway, so why bother to hide anything. British newspapers have some of the worst muck raking journalists on the planet, they probably know all about the three of us already. I can just see the headlines... *Three in a bed sex romps with demon lord*, or *Mulder demon-strates his affections...* "

It gave Sean a good feeling to make Mulder laugh.

*******

Alex was cold. Vaguely, he was aware that he was stretched out on a big, luxurious double bed, wrapped in blankets, in the middle of a hot desert day, the sun streaming through a large glass window and heating his body. It must have been over eighty degrees in the room, but he was shivering uncontrollably, as his body fought to overcame Tiamat's venom. He felt, appropriately, like hell on Earth, and lay unmoving, trying to make sense of the conflicting messages his body was sending him. Pain, chill, a throbbing in his head that made every previous headache he had ever experienced pale into insignificance. He tried to sit up, and wished dully that he had died, it would have hurt less.

Then he realised.

He wasn't chained.

Tiamat had finally made an error, thinking him too sick to move. Alex forced his brain into gear. This would probably be his only chance at escape, who knows how badly she would injure him the next time she wanted to discipline him. He had to get away.

Easier said than done.

He tried to stand, and he felt as though he was riding a carousel. Everything in creation was spinning round. In the end, he gave up, his stomach twisting in reaction to the instability in his balance centres. He found himself crawling slowly, but determinedly, towards the door.

It opened as he reached it.

Tiamat stared down at the human as he collapsed at her feet, his strength all but spent. Alex had just enough energy left to turn his face towards her in despair.

"Please..... let me go.......," he pleaded. With a malicious smile she dropped what she had been carrying in front of him. Alex read the front cover of the National Enquirer, and with a little moan, buried his face in his hands and began to sob hopelessly. She gathered her possession into her arms.

"Shhhh Alex. I'm sorry but it's true. Your lovely Fox has someone else now. He's replaced you. Didn't take him long, did it? No matter, I'll look after you...."

Alex fumbled blindly with his hand as Tiamat lifted him with astonishing strength. He clutched the photo of Mulder tightly. Then he was back on the bed, and with a little click, the chain was once again fastened to his collar. With an amused smile, Tiamat left her Alex to contemplate his lover's apparent betrayal. And Alex cried himself to sleep holding on to the picture of Mulder and Sean, arms entwined around each other, as they smiled happily into each others' eyes.

*******

Kulain had left before Mulder and Sean were awake because he had an agenda neither man knew about. But not, as Mulder would have suspected, for his own gain. It had been hard lately, to watch the two of them, and know what wreckage he had made of their lives. To pin all of their hopes on a pair of green eyes, instead of taking many humans and binding them to him. As part of a collective though, Fox Mulder would have been bewildered and unhappy, unable to cope with the confusion of his own sexuality and desperate to escape. In taking so few humans, Kulain was regarded as eccentric in the extreme by his own kind. They considered humans numerous enough to be expendable. And his championing of human rights was just another point against him. As a species, he considered humans well worth preserving. A little modified.

But at its best, his love life had been glorious, his pair of lovers perfectly complementing each other.

Alex........

That particular human had clawed his way into Kulain's heart, passionate and stormy, an experience he had never known before.

Kulain missed him so much, though he would have found that emotion as strange as love, even if he dared admit it to himself.

And now he had to try and persuade the others of his kind to keep to their agreement and stay in the controlled zones, a task which he feared would end in a personal challenge against him. And who would care for Mulder and Sean if he lost?

*******

Alex sat, watching the world go by down in the city, from Tiamat's penthouse windows. Inch thick one way plexi-glass, unbreakable and hiding its secrets from the world. He had little else to keep him occupied, just endless cable reruns and current affairs programs. The sad highlight of the week so far had been a celebrity watching show that had shown five seconds of Fox and Kulain at some charity show. He would have laughed, if he had not felt such weary despair. Mulder's gentle guidance of Kulain's behaviour was evident. Not that the demon lord was in the least naive about the importance of image in human society.

Since he had recovered from her last amusement, Tiamat had been coolly solicitous, as if he was a favoured possession, but she had more important things on her mind. As if she had gained all she wanted for the moment from him.

He didn't want to examine the issue too closely. There were hints of something in the back of his mind that filled him with revulsion and despondency. A vague, treacherous memory of the venom induced fever he had suffered.

Alex thought that she had used him then. That he had been exploited while he was out of his mind, for her gratification. His memories of an outrush of pleasure couldn't mean anything else.

She had sex with him. And he couldn't remember any of it.

But that would mean a betrayal of his lovers that he didn't want to contemplate, so he kept silent, and so did she. So it came as a surprise for him, when the door was unlocked and his demon captor entered, plainly irritated by something.

He forced himself to ignore the demon as she came closer, pretending to watch the world outside. As if demon senses couldn't smell the cold chill of his fear. A long taloned hand caught hold of the chain that was linked to his collar, and jerked him round. Forcing himself not to react with emotion, his head followed the tug, and he found himself on the bed next to her. Tiamat smiled hungrily, and Alex realised belatedly that she didn't want to eat, she wanted to use him for sex.

The instinct that drove her to demand pleasure was that of a succubus.

Hands began to trace their way down his nakedness. Alex despised his body for its almost instantaneous response. The aching hardness between his legs that demanded fulfilment. She had trained him well.

"I hate you!" he said in an undertone. But she heard, and gave a slightly mad laugh.

"Hate is alright, Alex. Hate keeps you alive, it makes you spirited. It proves to me that I haven't broken you yet. Do you know how close to that boundary I want to take you? Fight me Alex, I like your struggles so much."

Alex gave a snarl of rage, and pushed at her with all his strength. Then he was on top of her, launching himself at her, hands around her throat. She laughed in exhilaration. Then she *shifted*.

Her body became a writhing, scaled, serpent, deftly slithering its length between his legs, wrapping round his torso, imprisoning him between its gold coils. And he found his erection painfully trapped between them. He moaned, uselessly trying to free himself, desperate to avoid the erotic friction of her embrace and the effect it was having on him.

"Be still," she held him immobile until he stopped trying to escape. Alex tried for long minutes to free himself, but the only noticeable result was an increase in the ache between his legs.

"Yessss." Tiamat sighed in pleasure, as her coils readjusted themselves around him, and suddenly he was enclosed in warm wetness. The warmth tightened reflexively around him. She was *shifted* and he was fucking her. It had been so very long since he had penetrated a lover, and it threatened to drive him out of his mind again.

He hated her with a passionate intensity that almost drove him insane. But... oh god it felt so good to be sheathed inside her like that. No human woman had ever felt like that, an almost masculine coercion. The assault on his senses was indescribable, the scent of her arousal was driving him to madness. His body was beginning to move independently of his mind. He began to drive himself into her, screaming hate at her with each thrust. Sobbing as the bitch clasped him with the taut steel of demon muscles, calculating in her use of pressure around his betraying cock.

He came, spilling himself inside her, to his eternal shame, and collapsed into sobs on top of her. A serpent tongue chafed his lips and the tip of a prehensile serpent like-tail rubbed intimately along his inner thigh.

"You see! So very obedient!" Tiamat relaxed her hold on him, and Alex sagged on the bed next to her, his waist still wound by the narrowest coil.

*******

He was hers now. He had begun to yield. The long weeks of isolation, of helplessness, and the enforced abstinence had taken their toll. Alex Krycek thought no-one in the world cared a damn about him except her. And even hating her was better than being alone. Classic Stockholm Syndrome. Not that she trusted him in the least. But as with every problem, a solution can be found. Though Alex would fight her every step of the way, he was going to help her to break Fox Mulder. She would not even need the assistance of her alien ally.

She suppressed a little twinge of jealousy at the thought of it sliding deep inside *her* Alex.

No. Alex Krycek would be engineered into hurting Mulder again, this time of his own free will. For she would make the alternatives infinitely worse.

And the way he would torment himself afterwards would make Alex wholly hers. She would make his mind as compliant as his body already was. The effects of her venom had altered his genetic code enough already to make his body respond sexually to hers.......

******

"You want me to go where......?" Mulder shook his head, disbelieving.

Kulain repeated his suggestion. He wanted Mulder AND Sean to be his dinner dates at a diplomatic reception for world leaders. And one which Kulain had most surprisingly been invited to. Well, he liked to flaunt his humans! Yet there was something missing from their lives, and he knew what it was. Alex would have given one of his deep, sensuous laughs, that started a tingling deep down inside Mulder's body, and he would have accepted the challenge. Alex loved a party.

Kulain wasn't exactly a party type.

Sean was too sensible, except when he lay beneath Kulain as the demon made love to him. Then he would express his exhilaration with life unashamedly.

Mulder had never pictured Kulain in a tuxedo, though he would probably adapt to it quickly. That form of dress was so *human,* and Mulder thought Kulain would appear out of place in it. He sighed. Persuading a reluctant demon to be measured up for a suit was not something he was looking forward to. Assuming he could find a tailor who would make Tower housecalls.

His mother was going to give him hell about the scandal the three of them would cause.

*******

The Cigarette Smoking Man was relieved that Alex wasn't present at his latest meeting with Tiamat. Whether he was serving as a vehicle for the alien or not, The Smoker hated the idea of Krycek knowing the intimate details of his business dealings. It was too dangerous, and he hadn't reached the top of his profession by carelessness.

"Have you got what I asked for?" Tiamat purred. She looked utterly harmless and contented, relaxing in an expensive black leather chair next to her desk. He wasn't fooled any more. Her last display had been so horrific that he was reluctant to be in the same room any more. He wondered idly if Krycek was still alive. No wonder the young fool was so scared of her. Still, if he wanted victory over the demons, he needed her inside knowledge.

"Here it is. I'm curious to know why you wanted it."

He passed the slip of paper over her desk. Tiamat reached out and pressed her intercom button, summoning her pretty secretary into the room.

"Alyssa darling, here it is. You know what to do. Be ready in three days."

The brunette smiled in adoration at her employer, and turned to leave. The Smoker caught the flash of yellow malice in her eyes, as she left, and realised that she too, was not what she seemed. Tiamat leaned back in her seat, contentedly, then contemplated her visitor, before deciding to tell him her plans. And why exactly she wanted the address of Sean Worrell's family.

*******

"Alex, darling, there's something I want you to do for me." Tiamat gently stroked a taloned finger across Alex Krycek's bare chest. She loved to take her pleasure from him, then lie at his side, a secret part of her craving humanity. He flinched, more at the use of an endearment than at her touch. Something else he was becoming accustomed to, though he could never quite hide his hatred of her. And of course his fear.

"We're going to see Fox again, my love." THAT brought the reaction she enjoyed so much. The hope that he would see his beloved again, warring with terror that she would harm Mulder. In some ways Alex was quite predictable.

"No aliens this time Alex. Just you, in a room full of witnesses including Kulain. You're going to play to an audience this time. Just a little thing. I want you to tell Mulder how much you love me, and how you want to marry me...."

She enjoyed, too, the hiss of disbelief he gave.

"You're crazy! I won't hurt Fox again! I'll make sure Kulain kills you for what you've done!"

Tiamat laughed. Alex was about to find out how outclassed he was, in the hands of a master manipulator.

"You'll do what you're told Alex! You'll go up to Mulder and break his heart all over again, and he'll never know it was a lie. Because if you don't, My little secretary Alyssa will have Sean's family killed. She's been watching them for days, and I told her exactly when to do it. Unless she hears from me at exactly the right time, that is."

Tiamat watched the play of emotions across Alex's handsome face. The hope that crumbled into torment as he realised what he would have to do.

"Choose Alex. You could have your lovers back, and your revenge on me. But only if you destroy Sean. Is Mulder worth that much to you, Alex? The life of a woman and child you've never met, or the hatred of an ex-lover? Make your choice."

"What choice!" Alex whispered numbly. "You know what I'll do."

*******

Mulder grinned admiringly at Sean. The ex-bodyguard was rapidly becoming the best friend Mulder had ever had. There was something about sharing Kulain's bed that had brought down the barriers between them, so that they weren't afraid to show each other affection. Mulder actually liked Sean's hugs, the quick mind and the caring concern he displayed for Mulder. Yet they weren't lovers. That first time had scared both of them too much. And after Alex....... Well, there was no comparison.

He knew he would be doomed to contrast every other man he would ever meet to Alex, for the rest of his life, and they would never, ever equal him. There was no "after Alex." Maybe if he had met Sean first, there could have been something. But Sean seemed to understand, and his support had meant a lot to Mulder. Kulain kept Sean more than satisfied in bed anyway. And Sean loved the demon to distraction. They had even compared notes, one slightly drunken night.....

Yes, Sean looked good in a tuxedo. But Kulain! His dignity had been offended when both of his humans had burst out laughing after one glimpse of "the Suit."

If life wasn't exactly wonderful, at least it could be endured.

The diplomatic reception was being held at the White House. And Kulain was one of the guests of honour. Quite a public relations coup for the demon lord. Mulder wondered how he had engineered it. But he supposed that the President would have little choice but to yield to Kulain's demands. It wasn't often that Kulain used the advantage that demons had over humans. The control virus that most of the population had been exposed to. But when he wanted something badly, he had few restraints on his behaviour. Mulder just didn't know why this event was so important to Kulain.

Arriving at the White House at Kulain's side had been incredible. He and Sean had both looked good, but Kulain.....! He had forsworn human dress codes in the end, and wore something clinging and dark, so that he seemed to be clothed in shadows. Mulder had never felt the darkness that lurked in his lover so keenly. There was an aura about him that reduced even the boldest of the crowd of spectators to silence, as the trio walked into the reception. And the diplomats waiting to meet him had been reduced to stammering fear.

The demon lord disappeared within minutes of arriving at the reception, leaving Mulder and Sean to their own devices. Which, at the moment, appeared to be as objects of open curiosity and distaste by the guests at this social gathering. Mulder was glad that he had Sean to give him support. As a veteran of many such gatherings, in his former career, Sean knew how to stay calm and relaxed, and kept up a quiet dialogue about various guests and their scandalous private lives that kept Mulder from becoming anxious or bored. Finally the young bodyguard even became a little overwhelmed by the polite but empty conversations.

"You want a glass of good wine, Fox? I spotted an old friend over there who I know keeps a private stock on hand during events like this." He indicated the British Ambassador, who owed his life to Kulain and Sean. Mulder nodded, and Sean headed towards the old man.

No-one seemed particularly interested in talking to the "traitor" at the moment. Mulder didn't mind. He felt *so* out of place at events like this anyway. And he and Sean had outraged some of the more conservative guests by their obvious affection. Perhaps it hadn't quite been tactful for Sean to spend half the evening with his arm around Mulder's waist, but it had seemed necessary at the time. Supportive and understanding. Also open to misinterpretation, not that he gave a damn.

He scanned the crowd, looking for Sean, who had disappeared from view.

Then he saw an oddly familiar dark haired figure. His heart leapt. He couldn't see the man's face, but it could almost be........

Alex!

The figure turned, even as he stared at it. He had heard of people's eyes meeting across a crowded room, but he hadn't understood what they meant until that moment. Alex saw him. Something seemed to flash in those intense green eyes, then slowly, inevitably, Alex began to move through the crowd towards him.

******

Alex and his lovely escort had arrived at the White House much later than Mulder, and in fact, had only been at the reception for a short time before Mulder had spotted him. Of course Tanya Bright, Tiamat's human persona, would get an invitation to an exclusive event like this. Especially with a campaign contribution of half a million dollars.

Tiamat had held onto Alex's arm from the minute they had entered the building. She had caused quite a stir when they entered the reception building, since her outfit, designed by a rising star of fashion, was made exclusively of gold chainmail. It most closely resembled the infamous costume Tina Turner had worn for her Mad Max music videos. She was definitely in control.

"I'm staying close to you Alex. Just in case you get any silly ideas. I can kill you and most of the people around me, before anyone can stop me. Even another demon."

Alex didn't doubt it.

It had been a shock to spot Fox though. He looked diminished somehow. Older and less sure of himself. With a hint of sadness that only Alex could have detected. It was incredibly hard to stop himself from running forward and pulling Fox into his arms. Only later would he realise that the moment their eyes had met, he must have driven his nails into the palms of his hands with force enough to draw blood. He heard Tiamat give a little chuckle.

"You're on Alex. But remember, I won't go far away."

The crowds parted, and suddenly there he was. Fox Mulder, the man he loved. They approached each other. Stood silently facing each other, neither wanting to speak first. Alex found that he didn't want to break into that moment either. When, just for an instant, the two of them could pretend all was as it had been. Mulder looked so sad.

"Alex....."

Just the sound of his voice was sufficient. The throaty sensuality of Mulder's voice was enough to unman him. Then he caught sight of Tiamat watching him through the crowd, smiling maliciously.

"It's been a while Mulder. You've been in the news a lot, I've noticed." It was easy to say that. To insert a hint of anger into his voice at Mulder's rapid cultivation of Sean. Mulder flinched, brown eyes widening at the barbed comment Alex made.

"You mean the National Inquirer stuff! Well I guess you can't have a romantic candlelit dinner in private these days, without the press getting the story!" Mulder retaliated coldly. Alex felt a pain as intense as if he had been shot.

"I never have a problem like that with my lover." Alex replied. There. Surely she would be satisfied with THAT. It had the required effect on Mulder, whose face slowly drained of colour.

"Damn you to hell!" he whispered.

Alex wanted to scream that he was already there. He opened his mouth, to tell Mulder everything and damn the consequences. It was Sean's return that saved him. The bodyguard appeared out of the crowd at Mulder's side. He took in Mulder's appearance, then he saw Alex. An arm snaked around Mulder's waist and he leaned supportively against the Englishman.

v "The rat's crawled out of the sewer then!" he said icily. His disgust was apparent.

"I was just......." Alex began.

".......Telling Mulder about me! Isn't that right, darling?"

Tiamat materialised from the crowd, and took Alex's hand. She smiled triumphantly.

"Tell them Alex!" Her fingers tightened warningly over Alex's.

"This is the woman I love. We're getting married!" Though he said it dully, neither of the two men noticed. Mulder shook his head in denial.

"Oh you bastard. You son of a bitch! How could you.....? With her of all people!"

Mulder leaned his head against Sean's shoulder. Sean didn't understand quite what was going on between Mulder and Tiamat. He didn't recognise her, but it was obvious that they had some kind of prior history. And that Mulder hated her. He was furious that Alex had hurt Mulder.

"What sort of abusive relationship did you have Krycek? You obviously don't give a damn about him!"

Alex flushed in fury. He had no idea! The sorry son of a bitch who had taken Mulder away from him. Didn't he know what Alex was giving up for him! Momentarily, his anger and frustration were overwhelming, and he lunged forward, intent on punching Sean as hard as he could. Tiamat's iron grip on his arm stopped him cold. Though Sean and Mulder saw his response, and Tia's amusement.

"C'mon Fox! Let's go get that burgundy I promised you. Leave the rats to play their games with someone else!"

Mulder didn't move.

"Just tell me one thing..... Krycek...." Alex had never heard Mulder so bitter. "Why?"

"Remember back in Hong Kong, years ago? When we were enemies. Well I feel the same way about you as I did when you brought me back in handcuffs. You shouldn't have forgotten how much of an enemy I was."

He turned to Tiamat. "Let's get out of here!" Pleased, she let him lead her away.

"Sean, take me home please," Mulder whispered. He could barely stand, he was shaking so much. Sadly his friend did as he was asked. How much more would Mulder have to suffer?

******

Kulain had been meeting with several diplomats while Tiamat had been twisting the knife in Mulder's heart. He would normally have sensed the presence of a powerful demon close to him.

Normally.....

But not when he was sitting by the side of two other demons, who were his equals in power. The leaders of the Red and Blue Towers.

The leader of the Red Tower was, to human eyes, a pretty redhead. Kulain noted with approval that Fiamma had finally perfected her human form. Though the ruby eyes would, of course, fool no-one.

The blue eyed leader of the New York Tower, Azael, on the other hand, was apparently a handsome young man in his twenties. However, as befits the demon who had sired Ash, he was one of the most prolific killers Kulain had ever known.

The three of them had a message to pass on to many of the world leaders. Submit their populations to genetic testing, and give the information to the demons. Kulain wasn't anticipating any resistance from the humans. Not when it was only his presence that was stopping his allies from cutting a swathe through the human prey in this place.

*******

Tiamat had quickly hustled Alex out of the reception. Alex was on the edge of breakdown, and she didn't want to be in public when he lost control. In fact, within a few moments of climbing into her limousine, he broke down in tears. She pushed him away from her, onto the floor, mildly disgusted at his blubbering. She would soon cure him of his absurd devotion to Fox Mulder. It was disappointing that he still held some ridiculous hope that Mulder would take him back.

********

Had he been in hell before? Then where was he now? Wherever it was, he found it almost impossible to bear the pain he felt. He had done what she wanted, though it broke his heart to do it. He would never forgive himself. Better to have died, than to cause that pain in Fox's eyes. But he was too much of a survivor for that. Her whore.

Would Mulder live up to his high expectations?

Fox Mulder was renowned as a brilliant investigator, who could put together the tiniest clues to make deductions. Would the risk Alex had taken be worth it? He had taken a desperate chance, referring to Hong Kong and its aftermath. It was a tiny hope, but the only one he had. So far, Tiamat hadn't spotted his rebellion. Could he hide his secret from her?

There was a tug on the collar he wore, and he realised he was once again chained.

//Oh Fox! Do you love me so much that you'll see through the lies? Help me...... Please......//

*******

Life is always surprising us - not by its rich, seething layer of bestial refuse - but by the bright, healthy and creative human powers of goodness that are forever forcing their way up through it. It is those powers that awaken our indestructible hope that a brighter, better and more humane life will once again be reborn.

Maxim Gorky - My childhood

*******

Sean gently offered Mulder a cup of his favourite fresh coffee. Anything to get a response from the silent, heartbroken man who sat uncaring in front of him. Mulder took the proffered cup, and stared into its depths, as if he could see the world inside it. Sean sat down next to Mulder, and put his arm around the agent. Slowly Mulder turned to face him, tears trickling, unstoppable, down his face. Then he was clinging to Sean, weeping desperately. Sean didn't know what to say, so he just held Fox until the latest bout of misery eased. Then, desperate for something to take Mulder's mind off that devastating self destructive spiral, he searched in his mind for a topic of conversation.

"Was it my imagination, Fox, or have you and that woman met before?"

Mulder gave a short, bitter laugh.

"Oh yeah! She gave me these!" He pulled open his shirt and pointed to the bite mark on his arm, and the small, very faint scar in the centre of his chest. Seeing Sean's puzzlement, he explained further.

"She's a renegade demon. She bit me while she was holding me hostage against Kulain. Then later, to get her revenge, she shot me with a crossbow bolt! I nearly died!" Sean drew him closer, ignoring his own comfort. Mulder sounded muffled against his shoulder. "If it hadn't been for Alex, I would have died....."

"Then I don't understand why he's with her now?" Sean was mystified. "Anyway, what did he mean by Hong Kong?"

Mulder straightened, watching him.

"It was years ago. Back when Alex worked for the Consortium. I took him prisoner after I caught him selling U.S. secrets to other countries." A ghost of a grin brightened his expression. "Yeah, Alex was pretty wild in those days! Anyway, what I didn't know was that he'd been taken over by this alien thing, it was using his body as a host. I rode around for nearly a day with a mind controlling alien and I never even spotted the change......... Oh my god..............."

He was on his feet, desperately shaking his head in denial. Sean gaped at him.

".......It can't be that simple! It can't be THAT!....... Tell me he didn't just try to warn us what was really going on!........ because if that's what happened to him, we've just let him spend months in their hands without even trying to help him......." He slammed his hands against the wall. "....Tell me he wasn't trying to get help, Sean........!"

The young bodyguard shook his own head in bewilderment at Mulder's babbling. His friend sounded almost manic.

"I don't know......" he replied. "How do you know Alex isn't just trying to fuck with your mind again? If he was in trouble, why didn't he just ask us straight out for help. Surely the three of us plus Kulain could have taken care of her!"

Mulder sank onto the seat. Sean saw the flash of uncertainty he tried to hide. Then Mulder gave a mocking little smile.

"Maybe you're right Sean. But I have to know. Don't you understand. I can't let this pass. If there's only the tiniest chance that he still loves me...... I *have* to find out!" He meditated for a moment. "Let's think this through..... Let's assume that Alex is in trouble. He's obviously in control of his mind, otherwise he couldn't warn us of anything. So there must be something else stopping him from speaking. He wouldn't give a damn about the diplomats, so it's not fear of her hurting them. What would keep him quiet.....?"

"Some kind of threat....?" Sean asked. He could see how much Mulder needed to run with this.

"Yeah! It has to be that! But the only thing Alex would be afraid for is........ us! Something that threatens one of us!"

"No-one could get through the security Kulain has on the tower! Take it from an expert." Sean said.

"Alex did, when he was carrying the alien!" Mulder said.

"That's only a hypothesis!" Sean protested.

"Okay. I'll grant you that the security is good. But Alex couldn't get back in now. So that leaves us. We could be her targets. Somehow, she has a way to get to us, to hurt us........ But how?"

Sean considered the problem professionally. "I was always taught that if they can't get at a primary target, terrorists will go for an alternative, someone as close to the source as possible!"

Mulder's eyes went wide. "Our families! Suppose Tia has someone who could get at them.....Kill them!....."

Sean shivered. "This is just supposition. It may even be Krycek's lies!"

"You want to take the chance with your daughter Sean?" The bodyguard shook his head. "Look, it's easy for me to get my family into a safe house, they're here in Washington already. I'll make sure they're safe, then I'm going to track down Alex. I'm going to make damn sure he's safe. I need to do this!"

"I know!" Sean clasped his hand. "It's obvious you still love him. But be careful!" In truth, he had never seen Mulder so animated, so alive and purposeful. He realised how much of a shadow the agent had been living under, now that he had hope again, and the darkness had lifted. Mulder frowned.

"If Kulain finds out what I'm doing, he'll be furious. Can you keep him out of my way for a while? He'd kill Alex if he decided I was being hurt at all by this."

"Maybe he can be my escort to England! I have to check on my daughter.... If there are demons there, I'll need backup." Mulder nodded.

"And if it's true, we prove Alex innocent!" His eyes shone with hope.

Sean reached for the phone. After the last time in the friendly country of his birth, he wanted a friend there to check on his ex-wife and daughter. Right now. His former colleague Liz Shore owed him a favour or two, and she at least, would understand his worry.

*******

Kulain arrived back at the Green Tower, irritated by his dealings with the other demons, and longing for the affectionate contact of his two sweet lovers. He was in for a surprise. Mulder seemed to have disappeared, and Sean was packing a travel bag. He grinned ruefully at the demon.

"Er...... I have to go on a trip to England. I could use your company." The demon folded his arms and leaned against the door frame, distinctly unhappy with the idea. Sean realised this was not going well.

"I need to take care of some unfinished business. Please. It's important to me!"

Sean tried his puppy dog act. Mulder had told him on several occasions how cute he looked when he tried to look innocent. The frown Kulain bore didn't alter in the slightest. Sean reflected that a few weeks ago, he wouldn't have dared stand up to the most powerful man in America like this.

"Please..... I'll do whatever it takes to make it up to you!"

A softening of the dark scowl.

"Anything?"

Oh shit! What had he got himself into? But he didn't have much choice, and besides, Kulain hadn't noticed Mulder's absence yet.

"Yes!" Sean blushed. He had no doubt that he would pay for inconveniencing Kulain. It was just how that worried him. Whatever the demon was planning, apparently amused him a great deal.

"Come here Sean!"

The young bodyguard apprehensively approached Kulain. He trusted his lover not to hurt him, but he knew how inexperienced he was. How intimidating it was to try and please as skilled a partner as Kulain. A taloned hand rested on his shoulder, a gentle pressure pushing him to him knees before his lover. Sean began to get an idea of what was required of him, and fearfully watched, as Kulain's clothes were discarded to reveal his large, newly erect cock. Kulain's smile was knowing, slightly cruel.

"You know that habit you have of sucking on anything that comes near you, Sean......... It's time you put your talent to good use! He gently drew the bodyguard towards him, tilted his chin up, and leaned forward to kiss him. Then he rested taloned fingers at the back of the human's neck and drew him closer. Tentatively, Sean leaned forward and gave a small lick to the head of his lover's cock. His eyes lifted in wonder. and he smiled brilliantly. Then he lowered his mouth, and Kulain began to instruct him in what was most pleasurable. At least, while he could still issue instructions.

Sean had been a little scared of this. The moment which he had been anticipating for some time. The first time he had dared to taste Kulain like that. He hadn't known what to expect from a demon. Certainly not this addictive masculine flavour that triggered a craving in him for more. But then, being with Kulain had always short circuited any link between his body and his ability to reason.

The world had narrowed to the hardness that he gripped firmly in one fist, as he drew it repeatedly into his mouth. He was still slightly afraid to take it fully inside him, but Kulain tasted *so* good. He felt his own body responding to his lover's closeness, to the small sounds Kulain made as he continued to suck on the demon's cock. He managed to cast a glance at his lover's face. Kulain's pupils were dilated more fully than he had ever seen before, making it obvious that he wasn't human. An undiluted green intensity, full of the wildness of nature. Kulain was pleased with his poor efforts. More than that, Sean's sensual mouth and hands were making him lose control. A long taloned hand wove through his hair, resting against the top of Sean's head, as if in blessing.

Kulain moaned, a deep growling sound that reminded the human how dangerous his partner really was. Paradoxically, Sean felt his own cock leap at the sound. His movements became less co-ordinated, as his arousal grew.

"Do it Sean!" A snarl of desire.

//He was doing this! He was deliberately making a deadly being lose control, more than he ever had before with Sean. He must be crazy!//

The grip on his hair tightened. This time it was Sean who moaned. Kulain's other hand reached down, and grabbed his wrist, claws sinking into it. He was forced to let go of Kulain's cock, gasping as small trickles of blood began to drip from where talons pierced his skin. Kulain's grip on his wrist tightened further. Then the demon pulled on Sean's hair, forcing the bodyguard to deep throat him.

He couldn't have stopped, even if Kulain had allowed it, which wasn't an option. It was the first time he had done this, but Sean wanted to please his lover. And, god help him, he liked doing it. Kulain's taste was driving him into a frenzy beyond his understanding. A physical need in the part of him that was demon ruled. And besides, having the Lord of Washington inside of him in any way was incredibly arousing. He had discovered quite quickly that just because he was on his knees, didn't mean he wasn't in control of Kulain's responses.

The demon exploded into Sean, and he instinctively swallowed the stream of semen that flooded down his throat.

Just that alone made him come.

Afterwards, he stayed on his knees, leaning against Kulain's firm body, resting his head against the flat belly. The hand tangled in his hair was gently loosened, and began to stroke the bodyguard's head gently.

"You're beautiful, Sean!" In aftermath, Kulain was warm and generous. Then he slowly lifted Sean's torn wrist. "I'm sorry I hurt you!" The demon raised the bloody scratches to his lips and licked off the blood. And Sean stared in awe at the healed skin that was revealed beneath the red stains when Kulain had finished.

*******

// Got to get away! Got to find a way out! Hate her..... HATE HER!! Kill the fucking bitch...... Kulain, I'm sorry..... Please....... Need a weapon..... It'll never work....... She's so strong........ Fox....//

*******

Tiamat was having her own troubles with Kulain's former lover. Alex wasn't behaving himself. Her pretty human had decided to rebel a little. She glared angrily at Alex, who was sprawled naked on her bed, chained and delightfully appetising. She wanted to pounce on him, hold him down, and enjoy his struggles, before she forced him to do her bidding. Unfortunately, the evening of hot sex and cruelty she had anticipated hadn't quite gone according to plan. Somehow, Alex Krycek had gotten hold of a weapon, a pathetically small knife, and he was desperately trying to scare her away. How pitiable it was! He could not possibly do her serious harm with it, and she felt no fear. But there was the remote possibility that he could try to harm himself with it. Someone careless among the guards must have left it within his reach, on his food tray perhaps. Or her jealous little secretary Alyssa could have engineered this.

Alex swung the small blade towards her, forcing her to retreat. The blade seemed to give him some measure of courage, and she found herself admiring the play of light on his firm young body, as he moved. He wouldn't be able to hold her off forever, and with a growing sense of delight, she anticipated how she was going to make him pay. After all, like a spirited Arabian stallion, the best bloodlines were always fiery and hard to tame. But they were always trained to the bit eventually.

He began to tire eventually, his efforts to keep her at bay becoming slower and less effective. And in a single impossibly fast movement, she knocked the blade from his hand, slamming his body down onto the bed and pinning the struggling human beneath her. Exquisite. For a few minutes she just let him fight uselessly, until finally, he seemed to realise how futile his movements were and lay still beneath her, panting with the exertion. She also delighted in feeling the rapid rise and fall of his chest, and the pulse of hot blood through his body. She just stared at him, letting him see her power, her irritation. Again, it was delicious to see the dawn of fear in green eyes, the low whimper he made as he realised that he was going to be punished.

"Please......" The tiniest of whispers, trying to stave off the inevitable. She relished it. A month ago, he wouldn't have been docile enough to think of begging. Because he had, she would make his chastisement a tiny fraction less severe.

"Alex!" She spoke his name warmly, filled with her affection for him. He was *so* good to satisfy her needs like this. With a devoted smile, she *shifted* to her demon form, and with exquisite tenderness, bit his nipple gently. And as her fangs pumped venom into his flesh and he began screaming, she was filled to overflowing with tender love for him.

*******

..................

*******

Sean and his dark lover had been met in a quiet corner of London by Liz Shore. His friend had called in a few favours, and had borrowed a limousine for the day, with dark tinted windows. At least there wasn't going to be the embarrassment to the government of having a demon running round the English countryside in full view of the public. If they ever found out, that is. Liz had left another friend in charge of his family's security, and she gave him brief details as they drove northwards. He hated to think of how many favours he would owe her by the time this was over.

Kulain was no fool. The moment Liz started talking about security, he had turned to stare unnervingly at Sean, his head tilted slightly on one side, as he assessed this new information.

"Who do you fear, Sean?" An explosive question, quietly spoken. The young bodyguard flushed. He had been dreading this.

"Mulder said I ought to check on my family. His have had some trouble...."

Green eyes narrowed to slits. Sean swallowed.

"Don't lie to me Sean. You don't do it well enough. Tell me!" Sean saw Liz turn to stare at him in surprise. Then Kulain caught hold of his chin, forcing the bodyguard face him. Sean shivered at the deadly anger he saw the demon display.

"He thought...... a demon was after my family!" Astonishment replaced the anger.

"So you thought of me! So I do have my uses then!" Kulain sounded bitter. If he didn't know better, Sean would have thought Kulain was upset. But surely a demon couldn't feel such a human emotion? "And how did my lover come to have this remarkable information?" Sean felt a reluctant respect for Kulain. Straight to the point, with unnerving intelligence.

"He... that is....."

"Yes?"

"Alex told him...."

Kulain flinched visibly. The hand that had been holding Sean was abruptly released, and the demon sank back into the seat. He closed his eyes, covered them with his hand momentarily, in what could have been pain or merely tiredness. Liz was trying not to draw attention to herself, but was plainly fascinated by this glimpse of demon emotion.

"So. My lovers are involving me in a conspiracy on the word of someone who betrayed us all?" Was Sean dreaming, or was there a world of grief in those words. Unfortunately, Sean couldn't tell whether it was for Mulder or Alex. Slowly, he reached out, and his hand closed over Kulain's, gripping it tightly. He had never wanted to hurt the being he loved. The intimate gesture was accepted.

"Mulder *needed* to know if Alex was in trouble. He thought there was some sort of conspiracy.... If we find a demon near my family, we'll know for sure....."

"Mulder has been chasing plots and intrigues for as long as I've known him." Kulain said softly. "Why am I surprised?" He shook his head. "Alright, Sean. We can check if they are safe. I can understand your worry."

He drew the bodyguard closer to him, so that Sean's head was resting against his shoulder, Kulain's arm round him. In the back of the limousine, lulled by the car's motion as it travelled the miles towards Northumberland, it was a comforting position. It never occurred to Sean that it wasn't just for his benefit.

******

Alex huddled on the bed, as far away from the sleeping Tiamat as it was possible to move, considering she kept him on quite a short chain. Deliberately of course; it wouldn't do to have her pleasures interrupted by having to catch him first. He could still feel the after-effects of last night's little entertainments. His left nipple was painfully sore. The two small punctures left by her fangs were swollen and surrounded by purplish-yellow bruises. His inner thighs were also abraded in several sensitive spots by the scales that had slid across them.

Worst of all though, was the fear. He hadn't reacted that way the last time she had bitten him. This time he remembered everything. Being out of control, his body answering hers, the burning heat of desire that had consumed him. Her soft, manic laughter as he pounded his way into her. Her ecstatic screams as she came, talons sinking into his shoulders. Quite when she had shifted, he wasn't sure, and shamefully, he had continued to pleasure her, whatever her form.

Now, he just wanted to curl up and die. His body aching, his mind a turmoil of hate and confusion, he wondered what else she had planned for him. For it was obvious that he was her slave in all but name. The memory of a pair of hazel eyes, and their glowing green companions was becoming more and more distant. It was becoming hard to remember what it felt like to be with them. And worst of all, when he had caught sight of his reflection in the mirrored ceiling this morning, a pair of gold-flecked green eyes had stared back at him. He was changing again, as she modified his body with her gene altering venom. And he sobbed as he realised that he was helpless to stop it.

*******

//Please Fox come get me..... Please Fox help me..... Please...........//

********

Mulder wondered once again, what he was doing here. He had arrived that morning in Vegas, trying to track down Alex. The cops Alex had worked with on his last case claimed not to have seen him for weeks, and they thought he had headed back to Washington. He hadn't been seen around the city, or particularly, in the large casino complex where the murders had taken place. It sounded like the sort of dirty business Tiamat would be involved in, but no new clues had materialised in the case.

So Mulder found himself prowling the complex, as Alex once had, trying to find some sign of his former lover. Some trace of his presence, or of the demon bitch who he feared had taken Alex captive. There was nothing. If the two he sought were there, he could find no trace of them. But his beloved Alex was worth more than one days searching. He wouldn't rest until he had answers.

Even unwelcome ones.

******

Tiamat stared coldly at the surveillance footage. Oh yes, she had recognised him straight away! Fox Mulder. She felt a cold knot of rage ignite inside her. How and why had he tracked Alex here? Plainly he was in control, and far from the miserable wreck she had last seen in Washington. If his motive wasn't grief or madness, then somehow he must have found out the truth about Alex. But his foolishness in coming here alone gave her a chance to rescue some of her plans. She would have to leave Vegas for the moment, but it was an opportune moment to further her cause with her allies. Fox Mulder should have been broken by now. But there was still a delicious opportunity to make him suffer.

She slipped through the service corridors, and made her way to her penthouse rooms, entering silently. She paused in admiration at the sight before her. Alex Krycek lay naked on her bed, sleeping, his body bared in all its splendour to her appreciative gaze. One hand clutched loosely at the deceptively delicate silver chain that fastened at his throat. Despite her anger, she found herself smiling at her beautiful prize. Mulder wasn't going to have him. Oh no.

She rummaged in the detritus of her desk until she found the human device she sought. Then, finding a suitable viewpoint, she used the camera to take a picture of the vulnerable human, displayed as he was in her bed, chain and all.

Sleepily, Alex raised his head, rubbed his eyes, then stared at her apprehensively. She retrieved the other item which had been returned to her that morning, most opportunely. Alex whimpered when he saw what she held.

"Not for long dear one! But you have to take my ally to a place he wants to investigate. And he must stay concealed for the moment. She opened the container, and watched with a little regret as the black oil alien slid out from its container and towards Alex. He knew it was useless to protest, but tears ran down his face as he watched it approach. It took him with barely a sound.

A pity she didn't dare kill Fox Mulder, Kulain's angry retaliation would upset her plans. It never occurred to her that he could consider Alex more than an abandoned possession.

And Alex faced *interesting* times ahead.

*******

Mulder looked round in surprise and alarm, as his name was called over the public address system. With a sinking feeling, he approached the nearest information desk, and found a smiling girl who offered him a sealed envelope. Reluctantly, he opened it. Two things fell out. A photo and a piece of paper. He stared at the picture, his world turning to desolation, as the tears ran unheeded down his cheeks.

//Alex lay chained to a bed, sleeping, looking so very innocent and unprotected, his skin marked by bruises.//

And the note. Unsigned.

*A present for you Fox. He's mine now! You're too late, by the time you read this, we'll be gone. Every time I enjoy him, I'll think of you*

The gamblers in the casino must have thought he was mad, as his knees gave way under him, and he sat in the middle of the carpet, staring blindly into space, his white knuckled grasp around a picture, the only remnant he had left of Alex.

*******

Sean wasn't looking forward to meeting Donna, his ex-wife after so long. He had promised to keep in regular contact with his daughter, but the assignment in Washington had prevented him from keeping his promise. And her open hostility towards him.

They had married far too young, of course. He had been a young police trainee, and she had been an aspiring law student at London University. And though he hadn't realised it at the time, her pregnancy and their subsequent marriage had been a brief act of rebellion against her rich parents. It had lasted barely three years, long enough for her to realise how important money and status really were to her, so in the end, return to her wealthy lifestyle had been inevitable. The only remnant of that confused time in their lives was his seven year old daughter Claire, one of the few precious things in his life.

He wondered what their reaction would be when he turned up on their doorstep after so long, with a new lover, who had the dubious honour of being both male and non-human. It would certainly offend their conservative moral values. And more importantly, his choice of partner had put them at risk. This was going to be tough!

As they drew up the drive to the expensive Georgian mansion house, he noted with professional approval the security detail Liz had put in place outside the house. That would also be counted against him. He decided he would have to meet his family first, before he dreamed of introducing Kulain to them.

Leaving Liz and Kulain in the limousine, he slowly approached the entrance. He realised almost immediately that from the sounds of merriment coming from the back of the house, there was probably a garden party in progress. He could hear children's laughter and the buzz of conversation, in the hot afternoon sun. Following the sounds, he came upon a small group of adults watching as several children, among them his daughter, played hide and seek in the gardens. An idyllic scene.

"Hello Donna!" Sean said. His ex-wife whirled, and immediately grabbed his arm, steering him away from the party of guests, some of whom watched with interest.

"You son of a bitch! You're not welcome here after what you did! The press camped out around the house for weeks, trying to get Claire's picture. And we had to change schools to get some privacy. How could you? Sleeping with someone like Fox Mulder! A traitor!"

"It wasn't like that! It was only the once........!" Without knowing why, he found himself trying to justify himself to her. "We're just good friends....."

He should have expected the open disgust she displayed, but it still hurt. Then he drew a deep breath, ignoring her muttered abuse. "I just want to make sure Claire is safe, that's all."

"So you turn up at her cousin's birthday party? I hope you didn't bring that horrible American with you, I don't know what the family will say!"

"No I bloody well didn't! You're always so worried about what the neighbours will say, aren't you!"

"You could have had such a wonderful future Sean, if you hadn't turned down Daddy's offer of a place in his firm. You could have made such important friends!" Sean grinned finally, the irony of his life hadn't escaped him.

"I made a few significant contacts of my own, Donna!"

At that moment, his father in law caught sight of him, and his face flushed brick red in rage. He strode over towards them, and opened his mouth to give Sean a piece of his mind.

It was at that moment that Kulain emerged round the corner, wearing dark sunglasses, but otherwise totally recognisable from a thousand interviews and pictures. The words died unspoken in his father in law's throat. With an amused smile, Kulain strolled over to Sean, gently rested his hands on the human's shoulders, and studied the two frightened people in front of him.

"Having fun Sean?" The bodyguard was attuned enough to his lover by now to hear the rich amusement in the demon's voice. Oh yes, he loved to shock. The sudden warmth of arms around his waist as Kulain stood behind him was probably responsible for his father in law's goldfish impersonation.

"Donna, isn't it?" Kulain was at his most charming. "Perhaps you could let me sample your wonderful whiskey, Sean was telling me about it." She nodded, eyes wide and frightened, and then fled. By now, some of the guests had noticed their unexpected visitor, and many of them looked awed. He probably didn't seem very threatening, displaying open affection for Sean. The young bodyguard was having a hard time concentrating, Kulain was enjoying a secret amusement with slyly intimate caresses of Sean's body, hidden from sight along the length of his back. Sean felt his breathing getting faster, and tried to pull away, but the demon's grip, though carefully gently, was unbreakable. Oh god, he wanted to open himself to Kulain right here, in front of everyone, to back his ass in small circles against the hardness he could feel pressing into him, to bend and let himself be fucked senseless. He hoped people blamed his blush on the heat of the sun.

// When did he get to be such a slut........?//

Then with a squeal, his young daughter charged towards him. Mercifully Kulain released him, and Sean reached out to catch hold of her, and give her a hug.

The attack was totally unexpected.

The petite blonde nanny, who had been supervising the children's games suddenly lunged towards Sean and his daughter, long talons spearing towards Claire's head. Only the instincts that came from his demon heritage saved the child. It was a reflex deeper than conscious thought that made Sean grab his daughter and shield her from the ripping attack with his own body. He screamed as his back and shoulder were torn open by the impact of claws, even as he spun away from the nanny, whose eyes flared gold. And Kulain was there, moving past him at inhuman speed, pushing him out of danger, and seizing the demon woman by the throat. She howled her hatred of him, and tried to wrestle herself free, claws arcing towards Sean again. With incredible strength, Kulain flung her towards the black iron railings that bordered that side of the garden. She screamed in agony as she was impaled on their metal spikes, and twisted in a last, hopeless effort, before going still, the yellow glow fading to blackness in her eyes.

There was a deathly hush, only broken by children's sobs. Kulain gently reached out and took Sean into his arms, as Claire fled sobbing into her mother's arms.

"Get out Sean! Take your..... friend with you!" Donna was almost hysterical. "Don't ever come back!"

The bodyguard stared desolately at her.

"Please....... Donna...... You were all in danger." But her expression was implacable. Sean leaned against Kulain then, no longer caring, and clung to him. He doubted that he would get close to his daughter again for at least a hundred years. And the British Authorities weren't exactly going to be pleased with demon slayings in leafy suburbia. He tried to ignore the dull ache in his injured shoulder, then Kulain's hands were smoothing across his skin, taking away the pain and soothing the hurt.

Kulain looked perplexed by the events of the day. His eyes reflected his confusion, intensely green and stormy.

"Hypothesis proved Sean. Now where does that leave us?"

"We need to speak to Mulder...... He'll explain everything!" Sean replied tiredly.

Green eyes narrowed.

"I hope!" Sean muttered, as the gate fire enfolded them.

*******

It was early morning in Washington, when they arrived back at the Tower. And more news awaited them. The first thing the two of them saw, on entering the tower was Fox Mulder, sitting, head bowed, obviously upset.

"Fox?" Kulain moved towards his lover and gently knelt before him, taking his hand. "You're trembling?" Mulder reluctantly extended one hand, holding out a slightly crumpled photograph.

Kulain stared at the evidence he held. Alex. Naked and in chains, looking so very vulnerable.

"It was all a trick by Tiamat. He never betrayed us!" Kulain had frozen, utterly still, as Mulder began to sob. "He always loved us, and we abandoned him...... And now he's gone, she's taken him away!"

Kulain flung back his head and howled, an inhuman sound of pain and grief. If the two men had ever doubted that the demon could feel love, their worries were proved to be groundless. Kulain had lost control and screamed his denial to the skies. His human form wavered and vanished, as he shifted to his true form, and for a brief moment, gatefire outlined his body in a ghastly glow. Then Mulder was pulling him close, holding him tightly, as once he had been held, as the two of them grieved for what had been lost.

"I'll find him!" Mulder said. "I swear.... I'll never stop looking until I can hold him again!" Kulain's arms tightened almost crushingly around his lover, openly showing his feelings as never before. And he found human grief harder to cope with than the most dangerous of enemies he had ever faced.

//His beautiful Alex. His sweet, sensuous, passionate lover was lost to him. He had tried to ignore the love he felt, the weakness, dismissing his feelings as human foolishness. Especially when Alex had betrayed him. He would not make that mistake again. Though he as yet poorly understood the concept of love, he would make Sean and Mulder more precious to him than any possession. And Alex......! //

******

Sean had forgotten what Kulain was. Not intellectually, but at that instinctive level where a prey animal is faced with a hungry predator. Now once again, he saw Kulain in his true form, for only the second time in his life. He ran. He had to get away from the demonic creature he saw before him. Kulain's love and tenderness were forgotten. There was only the gut wrenching panic that drove him away from the being he had thought he loved. *That* was the creature he had willingly spread his legs for, the lover he had knelt before and sucked dry. He had to think, to try and resolve the turmoil inside his head.

The two grieving lovers of Alex Krycek had both turned at Sean's shocked gasp and the rapidly receding sound of his retreat. Kulain sighed heavily, and pulled Mulder closer.

"Life's a bitch!" he said sadly.

********

Alex waited impassively for her, as she completed the formalities, and entered the city. Humans would have found it strange that demons so closely regulated the borders of their city, but they were wary of their status as a conquering force in enemy territory. Every being who sought entry into the city was carefully vetted. And surprisingly many less savoury humans did want access to the demon zone. There would always be slavers who were willing to sell delectable prizes to the demons, and surprisingly high profits to be made selling human luxury goods to the demons.

Tiamat pulled on his collar, and Alex followed placidly, only the carefully concealed swirl of darkness in his eyes marking him for what he was, a host for an alien who already assessed this place for a different kind of conquest. Tiamat laughed softly in the ghastly blue radiance cast by the vast demon citadel that had arisen in the centre of the city.

"Welcome to New York Alex. City of demons!"

 

* * *

 

Dark Angel's Fire X - New York  
by Megaera

DATE May 1999  
E-MAIL FEEDBACK is life  
RATING NC-17 SLASH  
CONTENT WARNING m/m m/f sex, violence  
SPOILERS None  
SUMMARY Alex gets revenge, but at a price  
DISCLAIMER All X Files Characters belong to Chris Carter and Fox, I've just borrowed them for a while. I am not making any profit out of this, it's just for entertainment. The character of Kulain is mine but you can use him if you like, Mr. Carter  
COMMENTS This story is set in an Alternate Universe where demons can interact more freely with humans and can shapeshift. If you don't like my laws of physics, go find your own.

* * *

Dark Angel's Fire X  
New York  
by Megaera

********

...Yet oft I speak in such a way  
That she is wroth, and says "Be still."  
If that behest I should fulfil,  
Because of such obedience  
My hopes would be without defence...

John Gower - Confessio Amantis

*******

Curfew again in the demon city. Dusk, and its human inhabitants fled to the precarious safety of their homes to face another long night of terror, as the hunters descended on the city streets. In daytime, a truce existed - they would be left alone to continue the harsh struggle to find food, water, and a place that was safe for the night. There was no longer power, and all services formerly provided by the city had ceased. Surprising how quickly civilisation's veneer disappeared in a city ruled by conquering forces. Food, for example, could be bought by selling possessions, or oneself, and the population numbers of domestic pets had plummeted. But the nights were by far worse in New York City.

A demon citadel now lay at the heart of the city, ruled by its Lord, Azael, and he sent out squads by night to capture more delicacies for his entertainment. Most did not last long, and the inhabitants of the city grew used to the growing pile of bones at its gates. Some, unluckier than the rest, more genetically suited for experimentation, lived far longer. But the demons were careful to leave most humans alive, to maintain their breeding stock.

Into this hell on Earth, Tiamat brought Alex Krycek.

She was a demon of considerable power, and demon protocol demanded that she seek the permission of Azael before she took up residence in the city. That or fight to the death. So leading Alex on a silver chain, she walked confidently into the citadel, pausing only to let her alien ally find another host. It wouldn't do to let Azael spot her deception, and she wasn't about to let Alex out of her sight.

*******

As always, when it released him, Alex felt a mixture of relief, sickness and terror. The times when he was *taken*, used and discarded, he tried hard to forget. The touch of its mind was so repulsive, and he had felt it on more than one occasion shuffling through his mind like a pack of cards, analysing data. He looked around him, trying to understand what he saw. They were in a little alleyway, close enough to the demon citadel that its blue glow lit the streets around him in eerie radiance. He had fallen to his knees as the thing left him, and he watched, dazed, as Tiamat held a struggling small demon in her coils. Almost before he could move, the alien took over the hapless creature's body, and it grinned mockingly at Tiamat.

"I shall scout this place and return to this spot in three days. Be ready!" It vanished into the dark shadows of the alley.

She smiled. Then her golden gaze fell on Alex, who had been edging away from her slowly. A suddenly human hand caught his chain and yanked on it swiftly, pulling him closer. The other hand wove through his hair, and wrenched his head back so that he was forced to make eye contact with her. On the whole, he had found it safer *not* to do that. She was viciously unpredictable at times.

"Trying to leave Alex? Not a good idea! Let me show you why!"

He was pulled along, helpless in the face of her superior strength. They emerged into the surprisingly busy city street. But it was a demon-made confusion of sights that he saw. Dozens of them, hurrying to perform many tasks. Some dragged sobbing humans into the citadel, others were equipped for fighting and killing, and some walked in the surprising company of humans who they held possessively, and who placidly obeyed their commands. By now he knew why. They, like himself, were slaves who served as entertainment for their demon owners. And she was right of course. There was no chance of escaping through the melee.

Reluctantly, he let himself be led into the citadel. And stared in sick horror at the large pile of bones at the entrance. Hundreds, if not thousands of them, of all sizes. Tiamat smirked.

"Azael has been busy!" She sounded as though she approved. A small pink tongue flicked out, suspiciously serpentine, in a small sign of hunger. Alex had seen several of her banquets, and could not completely control the shudder that ran through his body. She felt the tremor through the chain and laughed mockingly.

They passed through the arched gateway, and walked towards the audience chamber, and Alex felt suddenly as if he were on the set of a big movie about Nero or Caligula. There was an almost Roman decadence about the place. A vast room filled by demons at their leisure. Most of them had brought their own entertainment, pretty women and handsome men whose eyes were dull with shock, even as they reclined on luxurious silks and furs. Slaves, to be used by any demon who felt the need. Some even fed their owners thankfully unidentifiable scraps of meat.

Tiamat moved confidently towards the centre of the room. There, on a high dais, Azael sat, surveying his empire. Blue eyes turned their glowing orbs towards Tiamat, as she advanced, and narrowed thoughtfully. She stopped a few feet in front of the demon lord, and a swift pull on his leash forced Alex to kneel before them. The demon lord leaned forward, expression brightening with interest as he surveyed Alex. Then he laughed.

"My lady Tiamat. Welcome to this place. Do you come to challenge me?" Alex sensed her amusement.

"No Azael! But I wish to stay in your city for a while. Without having to fight you."

The demon lord assessed her. Then an expression of satisfaction appeared.

"Very well. You may stay. Perhaps we can come to some sort of arrangement later." He rose from his throne and advanced down the stairs so he was close enough to touch them. Alex sensed Tiamat tense. Then a taloned hand reached out, not to her, but to grip Alex's chin. He was compelled to look at the demon lord, as the fingers tightened cruelly and squeezed, forcing his mouth open. Then the demon lord kissed him, tongue plundering his mouth. He tasted of something vile and ancient, that made Alex whimper in terror and struggle to get away. Knowing by now that it was exactly the reaction that would arouse a demon, but powerless to stop the soul-deep horror he felt. The demon lord released him.

"Exquisite! You have an eye for beauty, Tiamat. Let me have him, and I'll give you whatever you want here." She growled then, fiercely jealous, to Alex's eternal relief.

"Mine!" she snarled. Alex inched closer to her, huddled at her feet, then in ultimate humiliation, wrapped his arms round her knees, clinging to her like death. He had never been so scared. Just a kiss, yet it felt as though he had been violated. Tiamat's was a clean cruelty, compared to what that demon wanted, there were things Alex saw deep in his eyes......

Apparently his reaction pleased his mistress though, for a gentle caress was bestowed on his forehead, and she shook her head at Azael.

"No! I will not give him up, even for you."

Azael frowned. Then his expression became calculating. "Then let him dance for me. Beholding him gives me pleasure. Kulain's get, isn't he? It amazes me that Kulain would let such a beauty out of his sight. He always did have consummate taste. And you can feed if you wish!"

So Alex ended up on a small platform before the demon lord, clad only in a few scraps of fabric, while Azael and Tiamat reclined on furs, sampling tasty morsels, differences apparently forgotten. But every so often, he would see the gleam of blue eyes, and know that he was being watched. Hot glances that made him shiver .He wondered if Tiamat was really deceived by Azael, he wouldn't have trusted the demon, ever. Music was played from an ancient stereo, surprisingly modern choices. And to his eternal humiliation, he was forced to dance before them.

He swayed in time to the sweet sounds of dance music. It had been a long time since he had danced for anyone, even Mulder. A few visits to a night-club last year. But it was surprisingly easy to lose himself in the music, to move his body in time to it and forget his audience, forget his mistress and her hated allies. To pretend he was alone or with Fox. His head flung back, and he closed his eyes, moving his hips in an instinctive rhythm, shaking his shoulders in time to the beat. He was young and fit, and for once, he had an outlet for all the nervous energy that was caused by his helpless frustration. One that didn't involve Tiamat and her games. He surrendered himself to the beat of the nameless disco music, and let it carry him away from that terrible place for a short time.

He didn't see Azael's calculating expression. Kulain certainly knew how to choose the most sensuous humans, there was an unconscious animal grace about this one that stirred his blood. But the chance of revenge on Kulain made him restrain himself. He saw the hunger for Alex and his humanity in many other pairs of eyes in this place. Except his lieutenant Gelissan, who watched, silent and impassive.

Time passed. Alex must have danced without a break for over two hours without realising it. Eventually he began to tire, and opened his eyes. The demon lord had disappeared, and Tiamat reclined asleep on her furs. But his chain was fastened securely to the base of the pedestal and there was no hope of escape. He sat tiredly on the base of the pedestal, and surveyed the huge room around him. Apparently things got quiet here at night, there were few demons left in the room, they were all out seeking pleasures in the city.

Night was for hunting.

One demon however, hadn't chosen to do that. She wove through the demons and slaves that still remained with a powerful assurance that warned all but the most foolhardy that she was a power to be reckoned with. Amara. And at her side walked a tiny girl with brown hair and hazel eyes. It was impossible! The girl had to be her daughter, but surely she couldn't be that old, it had only been months, and the child looked about three years old. Before he could think to consider the wisdom of his actions, he called her name, with only a swift glance at Tiamat to make sure she wasn't awake.

Grey eyes turned to him in surprise, then narrowed as she recognised him. There was no welcome there. In fact, there was a cold hostility, as if he had intruded where he was not wanted. The words of greeting, of supplication died unspoken in his throat. Then he got his first proper look at the child, and he gasped in shock, as he realised why his presence was so unwelcome.

He had gazed into identical hazel eyes for too often not to recognise them, even in such an unexpected place. And it made him realise exactly how well manipulated he and Fox had been. A tear crept down his cheek as he shook his head in disbelief. And Fox Mulder's little daughter tilted her head to one side in curiosity, those familiar eyes sweet and strangely gentle, as she watched the strange slave cry.

Alex soon pulled his stunned mind together. Weakness wouldn't help. And no-one had been harmed by Amara's actions. But it was appalling that a child had been brought to a terrible place like this. He wanted to gather up the child and flee this terrible place, then both of them could find her father. And his recognition was obvious to Amara.

"Alex!" Amara was cold. "Speak of what you know and I'll have you killed!" Then she leaned closer so only he could hear her, and her voice softened. "The demons would have my daughter butchered if they knew who her father was, do you understand?" She displayed her distaste. The small girl smiled at him with Mulder's most appealing little smile

Alex nodded. "I won't put her at risk!" he whispered. For a moment she considered his plight, then long fingers reached out to touch his collar.

"If you swear to me that you won't tell Mulder, I'll help you." He gave another nod. Then he felt a sudden heat in his collar that made him gasp. The hated thing that kept his demon self at bay, the collar that stopped him from shifting to escape was now slightly loose, no longer fused to his skin.

"Wait at least three days before you try to escape!" she hissed. "It must not be associated with me. There are alliances here that you know nothing about, that I dare not jeopardise!"

Then she and her daughter left, the small girl turning just before she left the room and giving him a tiny smile and wave, innocent and heart-warming. She was the future of humanity.

He felt hope for the first time in weeks.

*******

One day to go, and he was almost ready. The demon lord had granted Tiamat the use of a small set of rooms close to the audience chamber, and he had been happy to stay close to her. There were too many dangerous demons close by who would be only too glad to take advantage of an attractive but helpless slave. And there were worse things than sex to fear in this place. Azael, for instance. Were all the blue eyed demons as vicious and evil? There were demons here of many different physical types, but only five or six different eye colours. He was beginning to suspect that it was some kind of badge of allegiance. Or perhaps a mark of their lineage. Tiamat spent a lot of time quietly whispering to her fellow yellow eyes.

Prominently, there were no greens here.

In fact, the only green eyed demonkind he had ever seen were himself, Mulder, Sean and Kulain. They were all products of Kulain's desires. The insight that gave him into his former lover's character made him pause, and he remembered the comment Kulain had once made about being restrained. The other demons weren't, from what he had seen so far.

Idle speculation though, would not get him out of here, though knowing he had to be careful with other kinds of demon was useful knowledge. He began to use the time Tiamat spent with her kin to work on the fastenings of his collar with a small length of wire he had stolen, he thought it might be possible to undo the clasp with a little time and patience, though it wasn't a type of lock that he was familiar with. The longer she plotted with her own kind, the more time he could pretend to rest, while he worked on the problem. Though he was expected to provide certain other services for her afterwards, since his energy levels were so restored. He didn't let it bother him, he was too close to escape for that, and the hope was too strong now. His ready acceptance of her demands surprised Tiamat, and she enjoyed the thought that perhaps he was finally broken in to her service. She would have to think of a suitable reward for him.

Then it all went wrong for Alex.

********

Success! After so long. Months of captivity were at an end. Alex stared down at the two halves of the collar that had finally yielded to his patient tampering. He had finally triumphed, taking advantage of Tiamat's absence. His neck felt odd, chilled and no longer constricted slightly by the metal. And within minutes, he could feel the demon part of him beginning to answer, the hot rush of blood through his body making him stronger, sweeping away the human weakness. It felt *so* good. Surprisingly exhilarating. He was stronger than he had been before, and he slowly stretched out his hands in front of him, letting the change come, extending his talons for the first time in months.

Unexpectedly the doorway darkened, and Tiamat entered.

Alex didn't have time to conceal his hands, or the two pieces of the collar. She stared at him, as stunned as he was by the unexpectedness of the sight. The gift she had brought for him dropped to the floor. Her lips drew back in a furious snarl, then she lunged at him, impossibly fast. Instinct was all that saved his life, as he flung his arms up to ward off her attack. And she was careless, trying for a capture and not a kill. She collided with him with force enough to impale herself on his talons, and howled in agony at the result. Long streaks of darker than human blood ran down her flanks as she finally decided to kill him, shifting to her serpent form. Coils far more deadly and strong in any fight tried to wind round him and crush him like an anaconda. He flung himself backwards and found himself dancing back on his feet to try and avoid her attack.

"So much for love!" he yelled, deliberately trying to taunt her. His one chance was if she grew so careless in her insanity, that she gave him an opening.

It worked. Yellow eyes flared with malice, and she lunged at him, heedless of his talons.

He was fast, but not fast enough. His talons impaled her in the neck and she made a choking sound, her head sagging forward against him as yellow eyes dulled. Then in one last superhuman effort, her head snapped forward, jaws opening unexpectedly.

Alex felt a burning pain along his side, once, twice, then the light in Tiamat's eyes departed completely and she fell dead against him.

For a moment, he could only watch in relief, as the coils slipped to the floor and ceased to move. Then he became aware of the pain in his side. With her dying strength, she had driven her fangs deep into his side, and pumped a vast amount of venom into him. Already, he could feel the ache beginning to spread through his abdomen, and he clutched uselessly at the seeping wound. This wasn't the sort of place that had a medical centre. Not that demon anti-venom would be in their stock of medicines. But Kulain might be able to help..... Swaying with reaction, he made his way to the door, and prepared to leave the citadel, if he could.

*******

He made it, barely. He managed to sneak through most of the corridors leading to the entrance without encountering a demon, most were out hunting human prey. Then he had to wait, dangerously exposed, in a small alcove near the entrance, for an opportunity to present itself. There were no guards, so finally, he managed to slip out of the door. He was almost caught outside, but ironically, it was the nearest pile of human bones that saved him. He managed to duck behind them as another hunting party arrived back at the citadel. The pain in his side was still increasing, and he guessed that his hurried escape and his terror of capture were aiding in the venom's spread through his body, as his hammering heart pumped faster. There was a curious numbness in his extremities now, and he felt oddly disorientated.

He ran down the shadowed streets as fast as he dared, trying to reach the edge of the city. He could pretend to be one of the human vermin who brought various supplies to the demons, if he could only reach the city walls. Once outside, a single phone call would bring Mulder. He was so close now. But the effects of the venom had correspondingly increased. His path became more erratic, and he began to slow, finally pulling to a halt and gasping in frustration.

His head was swimming with dizziness, his vision darkening as his body, strong for so long, began to fail. There was a pain inside his head that made him feel nauseous, and he knew he couldn't go much farther. There were still at least twenty blocks to cover before he reached the edge of the city, always assuming he didn't have to dodge more groups of hunters, as he had done twice previously.

His knees gave way, and he fell heavily to the street, his wound jarring painfully on the cold concrete. He tried to stand again, but his strength had vanished, and it was all he could do to make it onto his hands and knees. Distantly, he heard the sound of hunters howling at each other in challenge.

*******

//No! Not now...... Not after I've come so far..... I'm sorry Fox! I'm not going to make it back to you..... I wanted so much to hold you again........ I love you! Always!//

*******

Painfully, Alex began to drag himself into the nearest alleyway, out of sight of the hunters in the darkness of the shadows. Even that nearly exhausted the limits of his strength. The alley had become far darker than the limited light could account for, and he realised that his vision was failing. He was by the side of an abandoned brownstone apartment block, and as he heard the demons closing on his position, he feebly pushed back against the wall in a hopeless effort at concealment.

The basement window behind him gave way under his weight and he fell soundlessly into the dark.

********

Azael was more than a little pleased with the latest news he had received from his citadel, as he prowled the streets of Washington. Kulain had given his permission for his rival to visit the Capitol. Well technically an ally, but that was just a facade to keep the stupid humans happy. He was definitely going to enjoy this. Taunting Kulain about the loss of one of his pets, then giving him a few clues as to Alex's present situation. It would be worth any danger to see Kulain humiliated like that. He found his way to the entrance of Kulain's pathetically small tower, and entered it casually. He felt the defences test him, and then they were withdrawn. He was permitted to access the Tower.

*******

Mulder glanced up from his reading at the sound of someone entering the main living area. He smiled automatically, for a moment, before he realised that he was face to face with a total stranger, a young man with piercing blue eyes and an amused expression. Mulder blushed. The stranger moved towards him, and his appraisal was slightly unnerving.

"Beautiful! Just what I might expect from Kulain. His appreciation of humans is unsurpassed."

Mulder realised that he wasn't exactly facing a man, not when he noticed the slit pupilled eyes. So reminiscent of Ash, and his cruel lovemaking. Mulder shrank back, unable to hide his fear and loathing, claws extending involuntarily, and the demon seemed to take it as an invitation to move in closer still.

"Azael!" Kulain warned the demon lord. Regretfully Azael ceased his game.

"He smells delectable Kulain. So ready for sex. Do you train all your pets to such high standards, I wonder. Spreading themselves for you every night? And exactly how many pets do you have at the moment?""

Kulain snarled softly in warning. "Three!" he replied coldly. "The humans have a saying - quality is better than quantity. You always did prefer the easier option though, Azael."

Unexpectedly Azael laughed. "And is one of your beauties Alex Krycek?" He was amply answered by Mulder's shocked gasp. "He's in my city. Tiamat's toy now!"

Kulain deliberately frowned and pretended disinterest for a moment. "Who?"

"He danced for me several nights ago. He has to be one of yours, he has your eyes, Kulain. I hear that for a human he's quite fit. And that he services Tiamat for hours at a stretch. Your training I presume, she would never have the patience to build up a human's endurance like that." Azael began to enjoy the effect his words were having. Kulain lost control then, enraged, and the other demon suddenly found himself pinned against the wall. He matched the push with his own strength, so that the two of them stood braced, in opposition to each other, equally matched.

"No!" Mulder screamed in desperation, and he grabbed at Kulain. The demon released his opponent, and Azael fell back panting.

"You may never come into my city Kulain! Not if you want to maintain the truce and protect your human friends. But I'll let your pretty pet come any time!" he said, leering at Mulder, being deliberately ambiguous in his choice of words.

Kulain's eyes were dark with anguish.

Azael found that evening's work most satisfactory.

*********

The pain in his head told Alex that somehow he was still alive. It was as if a small demon had taken up residence inside his head and was clawing repeatedly at his brain, he could almost hear it chuckling.

//Shut up stupid, you're hallucinating!//

He was lying on his back in a filthy basement, on what felt like a pile of sacks. Dimly overhead, a vaguely lighter square in the wall must be the window he had fallen through. A faint light told him it was now daytime, he must have lain there for hours.

There was an unreal quality to everything around him, a wrongness that he sensed came from himself. He had to get to Fox, the thought was the only thing that ran round his brain. But his limbs felt as if they had turned to lead. It took an immense effort to try and raise his head, and he immediately wished he hadn't. A white hot agony speared through his head and he fell back again.

Something wet began to trickle down his face, and he inched his arm upwards, eventually brushing at it, and trying to focus his eyes on the back of his hand to see what it was.

Blood.

He was bleeding from his nose, as something in his head haemorrhaged. A classic effect of many snake venoms was a tendency of the bite victim to bleed out, as if affected by Ebola. It wouldn't stop and he turned his head a little to try and stop the blood filling up his mouth and nose. The pain made him faint.

*******

Heat, baking like a furnace.

******

//.......Fox......//

******

The pain in his head intensifying, so that he was writhing, screaming, begging for it to stop

*******

A curious hallucinatory quality to the world around him, senses sharpening so that the musty smell of the basement was a torment, mixed with other, fouler odours of decay and corruption. The light made his eyes ache.

//.....But. There. Is. No. Light. The. Basement. Is. Dark......//

The scrape of his cheek against the sacks was magnified a thousandfold, and there was an intense thirst that consumed him. Dimly he knew that he could smell water nearby, and instinct alone must have drawn him to it, for he didn't know how he reached it. Only that he was lapping like a dog at the //......wonderful......// dirty puddle that had formed under the broken window, near him. Falling back, sated for the moment, though still the fever burned.

//....I should be dead...... Why'm I not dead....?//

Thought receded like the sea, becoming increasingly unreal, more incomprehensible. He was thirst and heat and light and breath and scent.

And hunger.

*******

"No! I forbid it!" Kulain for once had lost his temper and was shouting at Fox Mulder in the heat of his rage.

"What!" Mulder shook his head, incredulous. "What the hell do you mean by that? Since when did I let you make all of my decisions?"

Kulain took a deep breath, forced himself to calm down and try to reason with the stubbornest human in Washington. "You have to trust me Mulder. Going to New York is a bad idea! It's not a place where humans can walk about unchallenged. Besides, you're quite a tempting prize for any demon."

Mulder glared at his lover. "You went to enough trouble to change me and Alex into your personal toys! Why did you give us claws if you didn't mean us to defend ourselves!"

Kulain glared back, unable to reply.

"Then it's settled. I go to New York to find Alex. You stay and sort things out with Sean, he hasn't dared to show his face round here for days."

Kulain capitulated. "Sometimes Mulder, I wish I'd made you placid and obedient!"

Mulder grinned wryly. "And lose all the entertainment I provide? I don't think so!"

"If you must do this, then spend the night with me first. Don't go while I'm still angry with you."

Mulder moved towards his lover, and gently rested his hands on his taller lover's shoulders. "I know you worry...... I'll be careful, I promise."

Long taloned hands cupped his face gently, stroked aside a wisp of hair, then a kiss was carefully placed on Mulder's forehead. Mulder reached for his lover, and pulled Kulain closer, wrapping his arms around the powerful torso, never wanting to let go. They stayed like that for a long time, neither wanting to lose the closeness.

//Was he crazy, risking everything he already had for Alex? It was a terrible choice. But in the end, Mulder would always choose the dangerous course. Wasn't that how he had got his life in a mess to start with.//

Kulain's lips began to stray down towards his lover's neck, and he breathed in Mulder's scent deeply. Savouring his lover's warmth, the sudden increase in pheromones, as Mulder realised the demon's intent, and moaned softly in desire. Kulain bit softly at the tender flesh, marking Mulder as his, and felt Mulder's cock become hard against his leg. He increased the pressure, nudging the long thighs apart, so that Mulder was forced to hold onto him tightly, or lose his balance. Then he pushed his lover so that Mulder's back was against the nearest wall. He pushed himself hard against his lover, so that Mulder could feel what he wanted, the hardness pressing against his belly. Mulder moaned with need, his breathing becoming hoarse and unsteady. Kulain was standing between his spread legs, pinning him to the wall, disregarding Mulder's desires in pursuit of his own. Maybe that wasn't such a bad thing, Mulder wasn't sure he wanted to think about the future at the moment.

Taloned hands tore at his clothes, careful not to hurt him, but totally indifferent to his expensive shirt. It certainly made sex faster. Mulder couldn't protest, he was too busy kissing Kulain for all he was worth, the fire inside him igniting beyond his control. With immense strength, he felt himself being lifted, hands on his ass opening him, drawing his legs up.

He was taken so thoroughly that it drove away all coherent thought, all his senses overloading. His cock was almost painfully hard, and he heard Kulain's murmured endearments, but had no idea what was said. It was too much. He came, screaming Kulain's name, his vision dimming, and feeling the hot jets of his own cum against his belly. The pounding pressure continued, exquisitely stimulating. It set off another explosive round of orgasmic pleasure. Then he felt the body against his shudder, and he was filled in turn with Kulain's semen. And Mulder was impossibly lost for a third time.

Much later, nestled together, he drew Kulain's fingers to his mouth and brushed his lips over them, then leaned over and kissed his sleeping lover. Then he slipped out of bed, groaning softly at the stiffness of much overworked sets of muscles, and dressed. He wanted to leave before Kulain woke, as he didn't want his lover to try and stop him again. He dashed down to his sports car and was soon on the long drive to New York.

Kulain had watched Mulder silently, pretending to sleep, for even his Fox couldn't have successfully evaded his alert senses. It was better this way. Perhaps he would be successful, he was unusually resourceful for a "human", and knew the dangers to avoid. And like many of his kind, the risk of the hunt was much appreciated. Of course, with all novice hunters like Mulder, there must come a time when they left the nest.

And the prize was worth the risk.

********

Sean had nowhere else to go.

He stayed in the demon tower because it was the only secure place he had left. The British government wanted to dissect his mind and body to find out more about demons. His family had rejected him, and who could blame them. And his only friend had gone off on some wild goose chase looking for the man he loved more than any other. Sean was alone. Of course he could always go to Kulain's quarters and spend the night being fucked so thoroughly that he couldn't walk straight the next morning. That was one option.

He rejected it.

All of the conflict he had experienced before Kulain had taken him that first glorious time had returned. Seeing his lover exposed as he really was might not bother Mulder, but Sean couldn't handle it. One advantage of working on the x files that Mulder had never really considered was that it made him more open minded. But Sean had been terrified by the little glimpse of reality that he had been given. He had ran and ran, finally huddling in the corner of his room, sobbing. Much later Mulder had found him, and there had been such compassion in his face. But Mulder *really* loved the demon. Sean didn't know what he felt any more. Tired and scared. How could he have forgotten that terrible visage......? The darkness he saw there?

Sean decided to get thoroughly drunk. It was at best a temporary solution, but it would do for the moment. His enhanced metabolism would soon burn the alcohol off anyway. He hefted the big bottle of vodka he had liberated from Alex's possessions. Then put the mouth of the bottle to his lips and drank deeply.

He coughed and nearly choked on it. Alex liked his vodka pure as hell and full strength. No matter, it was even helpful; all he wanted to do was get drunk as quickly as possible anyway. He took another swig. Then another. And soon, he had lost count. He lay back on his bed and began the slow descent to oblivion. He didn't feel it when the bottle fell from numbed fingers, tipping and spreading its contents in a wet circle across the floor. He was already far away.

*******

At first it seemed like any other dream.

He was walking down the streets of what must be an American city, though he didn't recognise it. Wide streets divided into typical city blocks, flashing walk/don't walk signs, the glow of streetlights, oddly blue. But there was something wrong. It was night, but there should have been traffic on the roads, cabs, police cars, street cleaners. But there was nothing at all. Not even the distant sound of traffic. The only movement was the stirring of garbage in a slight breeze, pieces of newspaper fluttering. Then he felt an increase in tension, as he travelled along the street, almost floating......

He rounded the next corner and found himself in hell. Piles of grinning skulls, polished white, grinned at him and piles of mixed human bones towered above his head. There was a smell like a charnel house. His body kept on moving, between the terrible mounds, into a vast building which seemed to strangely twist as he looked at it, as if human perception couldn't quite make sense of it.

Without warning he was now in a room, small and far too hot. A creature lay dead on the floor before him. A snake with a woman's face, but one he recognised. She had been dead for a long time, and her body was bloated and discoloured from decomposition gases.

Alex Krycek materialised from thin air and stared at him with dead eyes.

"It's too late............" he whispered softly, then vanished again.

Sean realised that Alex had been crying.

Then the corpse before him stirred, and a blackened face leered at him. Lips drew back from sharpened teeth, and a high mad laugh echoed inside his head. Sean was frozen, unable to move.

"Too late!" she whispered, then her body dissolved into black ooze which moved quickly towards him.....

He began to scream.

*******

Kulain was worried about Mulder. It had gone against all of his better instincts to let his lover go off in search of Alex, no matter how much he loved the younger man. Did it make sense to risk both lovers? But Mulder would never rest until Alex was in his arms again. Kulain sighed sadly.

Then he heard the screams. He ran, taking the tower stairs three at a time, running towards the source of the noise. Sean. The youngest of his lovers was lying in his bed, eyes wide and unseeing, staring at some unimaginable horror. His hands raised to try and defend himself vainly against whatever was causing the fear. And the screams had turned to whimpers of distress.

Kulain grabbed the bodyguard's shoulders and shook him hard. There was no response. He quickly made a decision, and drawing back his hand, struck Sean's cheek with the flat of his hand. He did it again. And again. It was enough. Suddenly Sean was back, away from the terrible place he had been to, staring dazedly at Kulain.

"Alex........... we're too late! He's not going to make it............ And..........the alien......" Sean's fragile control vanished as he crumpled forward, sobbing in distress, clinging to the only support he had. Kulain.

The demon gathered up his pitifully weeping human and held him close, feeling the bodyguard's desperate need. He stroked his human's back and shoulders, soothing the distressed man. It took a long time for Sean to stop crying. Eventually, his sobs eased, and he just rested silently in Kulain's arms, no longer trying to deny his feelings. Slowly he relaxed into Kulain's arms. The demon leaned back onto the bed, drawing Sean down beside him, still holding him tightly.

"How long have you been able to do that Sean?" Kulain sounded both surprised and compassionate.

"What....?" Sean mumbled dully. He sounded exhausted, and the effects of the burst of adrenaline he had felt was wearing off a body already sedated by alcohol.

"Have dreams like that?"

"Always," Sean whispered, his voice slowly trailing away. "They always come true......"

Kulain cradled the sleeping human close, chasing away any further nightmares. In truth he was astonished. Sean showed every sign of being strongly clairvoyant, able to dream prophetically. Useful to him in many ways. But what about Alex.......? Were they really too late?

******

A rat scuttled towards the apparently dead body, and realised its mistake too late, as a talon speared out, blindingly fast, impaling it. For the next few minutes small satisfied growls accompanied the sounds of crunching. A long tail was hurled into the corner of the basement, other inedible remnants followed. The yellow eyed predator surveyed its surroundings, then sank back onto its makeshift bed, hunger satisfied for the moment. The small meal would go some way to restoring its strength, then it would go in search of tastier fare. But it would return to this place afterwards, the basement was safe and sheltered.

Of Alex Krycek, there was no memory.

*******

********

INSTINCT :-

1\. The innate ability of an organism to respond to a given stimulus in a relatively fixed way

2\. Inborn intuitive power

3\. A natural aptitude.

4\. (Controversial) The way memory is stored in the body as a whole, as opposed to the brain.

*********

He often found himself watching them during the day when the demons were at rest. The pathetic remnants of humanity who still dwelled in the city. Their numbers were rapidly diminishing, for they were prime material for slavery, and besides, the slightest bite or scratch from a demon could bring disastrous consequences for the unlucky victim. Some would become demons themselves, but most would become pathetic half-breeds, gargoyles, doomed to labour under demon control, filthy and repulsive. There were of course many human slaves, who were kept in prime condition as status symbols among the demons. He watched them all. He didn't understand his fascination with them, they were so inferior to him. They couldn't move as fast, or scent their enemies on the breeze. And they couldn't defend themselves when hunters attacked them. A poor species indeed.

But there were many puzzling things about them that he didn't understand. The way they babbled at each other about strange, bewildering things. Half familiar, half frightening. Stirring yearnings in him that he refused to face. Always touching one another, showing their teeth at one another without fighting, and oddest of all, letting water leak from their eyes. He watched them do *that* often.

Their buildings were a good source of food though, strange containers that he seemed to know how to open, though he couldn't ever remember learning. Not that he recalled much. His favourites contained the sweet brown stuff that melted in his mouth, but he also loved the sticky yellowish crunchy mess that he could scoop from its hard, brittle containers with one taloned finger. Not that he found such treasures often. Mostly, he had to rely on his hunting skills. One thing there were plenty of were the rats. And in the meantime, he watched the strangeness of the world around him and tried to understand it as best he could.

*******

Mulder had arrived late in the day in New York, and had immediately been faced with a big problem. The Federal Government was erecting their own new wall around the city, this time to keep the demons in, and the humans out. A huge fifty foot high electrified fence that boasted dozens of sentry posts and one central checkpoint. He could have told them that it was a waste of time. Kulain could have passed through all their defences with ease. And it would probably irritate the hell out of Azael.

Mulder was, of course, instantly recognised, when he reached the checkpoint. And so he received the rare honour of being escorted through the military headquarters to meet the commander of the post, General Crake.

"So! Fox Mulder if I'm not mistaken. Paying a call on your in laws? Or maybe just looking for a bit of variety in your sex life?"

The General was less than subtle about his revulsion for a "traitor." Mulder sighed. This was going to be more difficult than he thought.

"Look. I don't want any trouble. I need to go inside the city. It's important! A friend of mine is in trouble in there." Mulder tried for the reasonable, persuasive approach.

"You son of a bitch!" Obviously things weren't going well. "Lots of people had families in the city! I've seen sights that would make you run screaming back to your safe little haven in Washington! You're not going anywhere!"

The door burst open at that point, which was probably just as well. Mulder could feel his temper beginning to fray. A young soldier came rushing in, more than a little panicked.

"Sir! The Lord of the city is outside! Demanding to see his guest, Fox Mulder!"

Both soldiers then stared at Mulder.

"You move in exclusive circles, Mr. Mulder," the General said resignedly. "I hope for your sake that you know what you're doing. I wouldn't send my worst enemy into that city right now. Some of the reports we've had......"

He was interrupted by a tremendous howling noise outside. Azael was encouraging his group to make his displeasure known.

"Get him out of here!" Mulder was dismissed forthwith.

********

Azael was apparently determined to show Mulder how good a host he could be, and was solicitous to the point of seeming like a used car salesman. Slimy and oozing false charm. But still, Mulder couldn't see why this particular demon should be considered so very dangerous. Deceptive, definitely. Powerful, certainly. But deadly? Mulder had seen nothing except a human seeming man, apparently about thirty years of age, slightly smaller than Kulain, with the characteristic blue eyes. And of course, a big sexual appetite, if those hot glances he was throwing Mulder's way had any meaning at all.

Then he rounded a corner, and saw the blue demon citadel in all of its radiant glory. The demon was quite an architect. He grinned unconsciously at Azael, as they approached the gates. Though the city surrounding the citadel was becoming ruinous, what was being built in its place put Kulain's modest tower to shame.

"Impressive, if I do say so myself!" Azael smirked.

And so Mulder walked unsuspecting into the citadel. Just as Azael had planned.

********

The predator spent most of his time at night prowling on the rooftops of the city blocks near the Citadel of the demons. For one thing, the demons rarely came to the upper stories of a building, preferring enclosed underground spaces to the open air. And also, he had noticed that he wasn't quite physically the same as they were. He had far fewer scales, and his teeth weren't as long and pointed. He regretted this a little, as they would have made a wonderful defence mechanism. But the demons were far more clumsy in manoeuvring than he was, less able to jump and run, though their speed matched his. In fact, from what he had seen of his body in reflective surfaces, he looked more like a human. Of course, *they* didn't have his long talons, or his physical prowess. He was quite proud of the fact that in the end, he seemed to have the best of both worlds.

So that was how he came to be on a rooftop overlooking the Citadel when the demon lord of the city and his party came strolling up to the vast gate. These demons despised human methods of transportation as inferior.

As it happens, he had been watching for a few days, puzzled at the actions of the demons. For two days, they had driven out large numbers of slaves, and had inexplicably begun clearing the area around the Citadel of the grisly remnants of their slaughter. Then they had hosed down and cleaned the area, even getting humans to finish the job with street cleaning machines. He found that he despised the noisy, smelly human machines as much as the demons did. And though the predator had no memory of who or what he was, their actions sparked a fierce curiosity in him.

The demon lord was in the company of a group of fellow demons, of all shapes and sizes, though most of them were blue or yellow eyed. They seemed subdued, for surely most of them would normally hunt a human or two while in the outer city. Not today. In fact, they all seemed to be focused on the central figure in their group, a single human, with a mane of brown hair. But then he got a good look at the eyes. A brilliant, emerald green.

There was a shock of recognition. A surge of familiarity inside him which he was at a loss to explain. A memory of a time when, impossibly, he was something else, more complete than he was now. Until that moment, he had thought himself whole. And now he *knew* that he wasn't. Somewhere, at a distant time in his past, he had known this human before, had felt emotion for him.

All he could remember of the past was a time when there had been pain, a terrible agony in body and mind. And before that, nothing. His instincts had helped him to survive in this outpost of hell, but the human below him stirred an unfamiliar feeling in him, that had to do with joy and laughter, and a warmth that wasn't physical.

The predator realised that this creature was in some part as much of a demon as the others. But somehow more like *he* was. Another of his own kind. The watcher gave a small sigh. He felt lonely, though he would not have comprehended how human that was. Deeply, inexpressibly lonely.

Brownhair was also beautiful, in a way that made his throat constrict, and his heart pound. He moved with such grace and sensuality that the predator growled softly in his throat at the thought of it. The demons were also aware of Brownhair's beauty. He could scent their arousal even from here. He had witnessed too many of their cruel acts in the past to mistake their intent. Brownhair would be used and discarded, as thousands of others in the city had been used. He might live, but that would only be bad luck. To potentially be used again at a later time. Couldn't Brownhair sense their duplicity, their hunger for him? His only protection was the Demonlord's fickle whims. And he wasn't fooled by the human guise of the lord of the city. The scent of vileness hung about him like a shroud. A subtle hint of pleasures gained down dark paths, from unwilling victims.

The lord of the city led Brownhair into the Citadel. The predator moaned softly to himself in disappointment, and insatiably curious now, decided to stay and wait for developments. Either Brownhair would come out of the Citadel or he wouldn't, it was beyond the predator's power to control. But he wanted to see more of that wonderful, beautiful creature. The rock hard erection between his legs was his body's inexplicable response to Brownhair, and rolling onto his back on the flat rooftop, oblivious to the world, he let his hand slide down to take care of it.

*******

As Mulder entered the Citadel, just for a moment, he had sensed something on the edge of his perception, a sound or a scent, he wasn't entirely sure. But it had been so redolent of Alex, he had almost turned and fled the Citadel to seek it out.

******

Mulder was escorted by one of Azael's minions to a large and luxurious suite resembling a high class hotel. The only problem being that the door was locked behind him. And no amount of rattling and yelling persuaded the demons to let him out. He knew he had chosen the risky option, but he hadn't quite anticipated becoming a prisoner quite so early in the game. Well at least they gave him some fairly decent quarters. He decided to take his mind off the subject by using the wonderful bathing facilities to clean up after his journey, and plunged into the deep tub with relish.

*******

Azael spied secretly on his latest acquisition as Mulder relaxed in his quarters. Kulain's protege was perfectly formed; a tribute, as always, to Kulain's impeccable judgement. He had no idea how attractive demons found him, that much was evident. Azael would take great pleasure in educating him. A few sessions with groups of his minions would soon teach Mulder how to be more deferential, and he would learn too, some of the more exotic pleasures that Azael preferred. Mulder was a prize indeed, exceptionally beautiful, but also a product of Kulain's bloodline and carrying his unique DNA.

He clapped his taloned hands, and a pretty male slave was dragged in front of him. This one was well used to his torments, which explained his reluctance and terror. But the slave really didn't compare with Fox Mulder. There was no challenge in using him. Azael was bored with this one anyway, and when he had finished using the slave, broke its neck with a casual twist of his hand. His chief servant, the demon Gelissan had the body dragged away to provide more raw material for the army he was creating. Already, five thousand soldiers awaited the call to leave the city and plunder the surrounding countryside, in defiance of the treaty. The problem now was how to betray Kulain in a really *creative* way, for Azael was more than a little concerned with his own reputation. And besides, his hatred for Kulain was all consuming, and clouded his judgement. How much better it would be to complete the late unlamented Tiamat's plans and have Mulder cause pain for his nemesis, weaken him for the kill.

His body sated now, Azael felt safer in Fox Mulder's company. At least he wouldn't immediately ravish the beautiful half-human. But it was time for some psychological tactics. He would meet Mulder in his *shifted* demon form. He concentrated, and became his true self, then called for Mulder to be brought to him. And when Kulain was dead......... then there would be time for more pleasant amusements.

*******

Azael was utterly hideous in his true form. Even Mulder, accustomed by now to the many varieties of demon he saw around him was stunned. Azael was like a naked giant cast out of bronze as he reclined on his throne in the centre of the audience chamber. He looked more reptilian than anything else, with horns, a long pointed tail and scaled skin. His hands and feet were massively clawed, and Mulder's eyes were drawn irresistibly to the demon's massive sheathed penis, presently quiescent. Irresistibly, Mulder found his thoughts comparing Azael to dinosaur, massive and slow moving. But he knew the comparison was spurious, Azael was deadly fast and dangerous.

The Demonlord patted a cushion by his side, and slightly embarrassed, Mulder joined him. He soon decided that if Kulain ever decided to take that direction in interior design, he would have to shoot him. He felt like a slave. Which was of course the object of the exercise. The next moment though, all thoughts of his discomfort were forgotten, as the real slaves entered and began to perform for the entertainment of Azael's many lackeys. Mulder tried hard to conceal his outrage at the barbaric spectacle, but he found it difficult. Most of the slaves bore signs of mistreatment, bruising and the stiff movements that betoken a certain type of sexual ill-treatment.

Slavery on American soil again after more than a century of freedom. Mulder couldn't help the sense of shame he felt. So this was what the General had meant! No wonder he had been angry. He turned to Azael.

"How can you do this? Slaves! It's barbaric! If Kulain knew you were doing this, he'd punish you. Surely you can see how wrong it is!"

Azael roared with laughter. What a naive creature this Mulder was. No wonder Kulain enjoyed his company. The human stared up at him with a mixture of bewilderment and outrage.

"Why did you come here Mulder, if it wasn't to bargain for one of my slaves? I thought you wanted your friend Alex! I have him safe, for the moment. But who can say how long I'll keep him that way, he's such a tempting little slave. Especially when he dances naked for me......"

The lie of course was instantly believed by Mulder. Kulain's pet quickly got himself under control and tried unsuccessfully to look penitent. Mulder was more than a friend to Alex then, they weren't just fellow bedpartners of Kulain. Then how much would Mulder risk for Alex?

"Spend the night with me, Fox Mulder, and I'll free your friend."

Mulder's eyes narrowed. It wasn't the sort of proposition he would fall for twice in one lifetime. He remembered all too well what had happened when Ash had taken him.

"No! You want me to forget everything and be your new slave. Like hell!"

Azael blinked in surprise. How had the human known about his favourite trick? Unless of course he had seen it already. His beloved Ash had often amused himself in that fashion. Was it possible that he had encountered the beautiful Mulder. Certainly Ash would have found this human a temptation. He resolved to question Mulder later. But in the meantime, a psychological attack would keep Mulder off balance.

"You are a fool, Fox Mulder, to criticise me for a few amusements with humans. Don't you know that your lover Kulain's crimes put all the rest of demonkind to shame. He is the one responsible for the creation of our species, the fall from what we were before. So he alone bears the guilt for every being killed by a demon. And every demon on your world came here with his blessing!"

Mulder shook his head.

"No! That's not possible........"

Azael let fly his most devastating response.

"Ask him. See if he denies it!"

Mulder stared at him in horror. Then he was running back to his room, desperate to be alone, needing time to think. Azael was satisfied. Those half-truths would destabilise Kulain's relationship with Mulder. But still it was not enough to assuage his hatred.

He sent for his trusted lieutenant Gelissan. There was the small problem of catching the unexpectedly resourceful Alex Krycek, before he could bargain away his life. He gave orders for his lieutenant to search for Krycek. Gelissan nodded eagerly, and went to do his bidding. He relaxed with another human slave and amused himself by pretending that the screaming man was Mulder. What fun to bite the screaming slave and take him as his body started to rot at an accelerated rate.....

*******

Ever since he had seen the beautiful Brownhair go into the Citadel, he had been haunted by the strangest dreams. He was of course desperately lonely, but surely that couldn't explain how Brownhair kept appearing in his dreams. Laughing, as his body lay draped across the predator; sobbing as the predator's strong arms went around him; walking through strange places together, fingers entwined. As he thought about it the predator couldn't help but notice that the things that he did in the dreams and the way his body looked were completely different from his life in the city. That last dream about fingers! What a nightmare! Apparently he was a human in his dreams. He shuddered. Who would want to be one of those helpless weaklings? And yet it had been so good in the dream to trace those strange fingers across the human's skin, to hear him moan and beg. He tried unsuccessfully to ignore his tormenting thoughts about the human.

But to be with object of his desire. To see Brownhair smile as he had in his dreams. To touch that body, to feel it in his arms. He flung his head up, and regardless of the danger, howled his pain to the skies.

Only humans cried. The wetness on his cheeks must be something else.....

********

Mulder hadn't slept much that night. He was haunted by the thought of what Azael had implied. He had known moments of doubt in his relationship with Kulain, but they had always managed to work through their differences. The demon had always been there when Mulder needed him, and when their relationship was good, it was one of the most glorious things in his turbulent life. Azael was a congenital liar of course, if he was even half as duplicitous as Ash had been. Kulain had implied that he was ten times worse. Restless and unhappy, Mulder finally decided to try and sneak out of this gilded prison room and try to take a look around the citadel. He *shifted*, and went to the door. His new strength easily wrenched the door open when he applied himself to pulling the handle, breaking the lock into splinters at the same time. Azael obviously didn't suspect how good an adaptation Kulain had given to his pets otherwise Mulder wouldn't have been so poorly guarded.

Sneaking down the featureless dimly lit corridors was an exercise in familiarity. He seemed to spend half of his life in clandestine operations like this. Then he rounded a corner and decided that this was one thing he had never seen in his wildest nightmares. He took a few moments to void the contents of his stomach, and a considerably longer time to compose himself.

There were stairs leading down into a vast underground cavern. And in the best Lovecraftian tradition, before him was a scene from hell, strangely reminiscent of a painting by a Cubist or Modernist painter. Human body parts lay in vast piles, and were being reconnected and re-animated by busy demon workers. Just not in ways that made any sense to humans. Vast shambling and flying creatures whose raw material was...... He vomited again and fled up the steps he had so recently descended. That carnage was created and overseen by his genial host. No wonder Kulain despised him so much.

But his heedless flight had its consequences. He reached the top of the stairs and found himself facing a very surprised and annoyed Azael.

********

"Why do you need those things?" Mulder spat at his captor. "You bastard! Haven't you done enough to humans while they were alive, do you have to desecrate their dead bodies too?"

Azael smiled coldly at his prisoner. Mulder was held in the strong grasp of two big demon guards.

"If only you had taken up my offer, Fox. Now I have to persuade you in a different way!" He addressed the guards. "Take him to my personal quarters and have him made ready for me." He smiled in anticipation and patted his struggling new pet's cheek.

"I'll kill you!" Mulder screamed. The terror of last year returned at full force. He wouldn't let himself be touched again like Ash had...... The threat just slipped out, and then it was too late to take it back.

"You're not having me! If you touch me I'll slit your throat like I did to Ash!"

Azael's head whipped round, his blue eyes flaring in disbelief. Then he howled in a terrible grief, his body altering to demon form again, and his claws fully unsheathing six inches long and wickedly sharp.

Mulder realised that he should have kept his mouth shut. Azael hadn't known Ash was dead. Until now!

A huge hand closed round Mulder's throat, tightening so that he couldn't breath. He was shaken fiercely. The horned head came within inches of his.

"Human! You will die a thousand deaths and more beneath my hands. And you will beg for death until your throat bleeds from screaming. You will never see your precious Kulain again, and when I find your little companion Alex, I will let you watch while I break his body in two."

At a signal from Azael, the two guards began to drag their uselessly struggling captive away. And when they reached their destination and he saw what awaited him, the only thing a terrified Mulder could think of was that at least Alex was free.

The being who had once been Alex Krycek was sleeping, curled up on a rooftop, relatively safe in the daytime, and content to bask in the warmth of the sunlight. Until he heard the commotion from inside the Citadel, and began to suspect that something was wrong. Slyly peering towards the source of the sound, he saw demons boiling out from the Citadel into the sunlight. They stood blinking uncertainly, trying to block the light from their sensitive eyes and cowering away from the entranceway in fear. Only one being could have scared so many demons. Azael himself must be in a towering rage if so many of his minions were prepared to face the despised daylight to avoid his notice. Squeals and bellows from those too slow to avoid the demon lord's wrath came from within, and the watcher sniggered to himself at their plight.

He had been keeping vigil there for many hours, waiting hopefully for a sign that Brownhair still lived. Perhaps he had it. Only an enemy's victory could have made Azael so furious, and the watcher couldn't imagine the being he desired actually co-operating with Azael. His own degree of trust for Brownhair was incomprehensible to him, but he *knew* it to be right.

So if Brownhair had made Azael mad, he might need help. Silently, the predator rose, stretched luxuriously, then made his way slyly towards the one weak point of the Citadel that he had discovered in his observations. The effluent outlet.

Agile and not afraid to face the foul darkness, not for Brownhair's sake, he crept into the Citadel and began to search for his heart's desire. Small obstacles like grilles and larger than usual rats and small scavenger demons were bypassed easily. His task was made simpler by the fact that nearly all of the Citadel's mobile inhabitants had fled hastily, leaving the place virtually empty.

He finally detected Brownhair by his distant but tantalising scent. There was a heavy element of fear in it now. He growled softly to himself and readied himself to take on any demon for his love's sake.

*******

Mulder writhed and fought against the ties that held him down on Azael's bed. He had never been so afraid. Azael would have vengeance on him, he had heard the raging demon somewhere else in the Citadel, indulging his killing rage on some hapless creature. So that he would be more controlled when it came to deciding Mulder's fate. Mulder wasn't anticipating a quick or clean death.

The two guards watched him coldly, neither willing to risk their master's wrath by taking their eyes off him for even a minute.

It sneaked up on them gradually. Mulder couldn't precisely say exactly when it started, but suddenly, there was a foul smell in the air. Sensitive demon senses were overloaded by the stench, and the guards both peered suspiciously round, then glared at each other contemptuously. The smell finally appeared to be coming from an air duct in the wall. One of them walked over to it and reached out a hand.

The vent exploded from the wall, kicked at full force into the guard's face and he fell, stunned. A shape launched itself from the hole in the wall, tackling the larger guard and moving with such unexpected swiftness that the guard died from a slit throat with a look of surprise still on his face. The figure stooped and made short work of the second, fallen guard.

Golden eyes gleamed at an astonished Mulder from a face and body almost totally covered with unspeakable filth.

The figure pressed a finger to its lips, indicating that Mulder should be silent, and the rescuer quickly unfastened Mulder's tight bonds. Then with a beckoning motion, gestured for Mulder to follow him back into the wall-space. Mulder was more than pleased to co-operate with the plan.

********

Azael was finally ready to face the human who had murdered his beloved Ash. Not that he had seen Ash in a long, long time, but he was still "family. And besides, a human killing a demon lord! Outrageous! Both Mulder and his lover Alex were guilty of this crime, and he would see to it that they were punished. It was just another notch on the tally of grievances he would also settle with Kulain.

Returning to his private chambers, it was doubly shocking to find his guards slaughtered, and his prisoner missing. With a howl of rage that dwarfed all that he had made before, he prepared to hunt Mulder down.

******

Mulder and his rescuer fled through the complex system of tunnels that were part of the Citadel. He followed the figure of his saviour unquestioningly. He had little choice, and besides, the stranger seemed to know where he was going. Down into the depths of the building, far lower, surely, than ground level. And finally, they came to what appeared to be a sewage outlet. No wonder his rescuer was so covered in filth. The man turned, and Mulder saw a brief glow of golden eyes, and a hint of human white teeth gleaming as he grinned at Mulder. Then the grille over the sewer entrance was pulled aside, and he and his saviour plunged through it.

Mulder found himself shoulder deep in a river of foulness, and tried not to think about what he was surrounded by. The current was quite strong, and more than once he felt his body rocked by it. Then his footing slipped, and with a gasp of terror, he started to go under.

A warm arm wrapped itself round his waist and he found himself leaning gratefully against the stranger. And though he couldn't see his face, he felt the arm give a gently reassuring squeeze , encouraging him to continue. And finally, they were out of the tunnel. Mulder found himself on the Manhattan foreshore, a short distance from the river, where the effluent was draining. He stared up at the mid afternoon sky and let out a relieved breath.

A tug on his waist brought his thoughts back to reality. His rescuer grinned, looking absurd, covered as he was in dark slime. Mulder felt like smiling himself. He had just outwitted Azael, with a little help. His rescuer turned and ran down the foreshore, and plunged headfirst into the relatively clean river water upstream, diving underwater, to cleanse the foulness away. Now that was a great idea! Mulder joined him, diving under for himself.

He surfaced, and looked around for his rescuer, wanting to thank him.

A head emerged from the water about a foot away from him, and he found himself staring into the strange golden eyes of Alex Krycek.

With a gasp, he flung himself forward, and wrapped his arms around his love, kissing him with the sweetest, most tender kiss he could compose. Alex's arms went round him in return, and he could barely stop himself from screaming his joy to the world.

Finally, with reluctance, Alex pulled away. He pressed a finger to Mulder's lips again and indicated the shore. Mulder heard the distant sound of hunting demons and nodded. A hand seized his and he was led silently through dangerous streets to a place of sanctuary.

********

Mulder stared round him at the small basement room that Alex had brought him to. At least they were temporarily safe from Azael's minions. He turned back to Alex, grinning in the exhilaration of the moment. He had found Alex. They were, at least for this one moment, free. He studied the figure before him, for once uncertain about what he should say. It had been so long, and their last meeting hadn't exactly been friendly. Alex returned the gaze, silent, his head tilted slightly on one side, as though he too was lost for words. The golden eyes were a little startling, but neither of them were completely unscathed by Tiamat's plots.

He looked thinner, leaner and somehow far more dangerous. Mulder guessed that living in the city had forced Alex to live by his wits. And he was *shifted*, though his talons were withdrawn at the moment. It gave a wildness and a hint of the exotic to his slightly grubby face. But Mulder still wanted to wrap Alex in his arms and protect him. He sighed.

"Alex....... I'm glad you're alright. I've been so worried......"

//Great start Fox, he's still looking at you like you're a different species//

"I love you Alex. I'll always love you. You must know that! I'm so sorry that I took so long to find you...."

The results of his little speech were quite unexpected.

******

It had taken a lot of cunning and quite a few diversionary tactics to get Brownhair back to his lair unscathed. The demons were everywhere. Apparently the lord of the city must want this one quite badly. The predator grinned, unconscious of the humanity of the gesture. It felt good to outwit the foul one. But now he was faced with the object of his desire right in front of him, he was at a loss to know how to treat him. A demon would have sensed his hunger immediately, and known what he wanted.

Yet wasn't this human worth more than that. Again the irresistible certainty that there was something important he ought to remember. The human smiled at him in encouragement, then started to babble on about how good it was to see him again, and how he loved him so.

Loved him?

*Sorry.....love.....Alex*

It was as if the human had met him before. Was that possible? Or did he just want this human so much that he was imagining the human's favourable response to him. Humans could be so strange.

The proximity of Brownhair was setting off certain reactions in his body that he couldn't control. He slid his hand down across his chest and slowly began to circle one nipple with an extended talon, felt the sudden tightness at his crotch, as the body coverings he wore hampered nature. A quick wriggle and he was free of them.

The human had fallen silent, wide eyed, when he had begun to touch himself. Apparently interaction between them was going to be easier than he had anticipated, he smelt the sudden change in the human's body chemicals as Brownhair's body also began to react sexually. He knew what was wanted then.

*******

Mulder watched in fascination as Alex ran his hands down across his body in wordless sensuality. He couldn't take his eyes away from the irresistible motion of that taloned finger. Alex was smiling in a predatory way that made Mulder's throat go dry and his heart beat faster. And by the bulge he could see under Alex's clothing, he was thinking only one thing at the moment. It was one thing that had always worked between them, despite their occasional arguments. The love/lust that didn't need words to express itself. If Alex didn't want to talk about their separation at the moment, that was fine. He had been through an ordeal that would have broken lesser men. And besides, Mulder felt the same way about Alex.

Alex slithered agilely out of his clothes, with an animal grace that made Mulder moan in desire, and he had eyes for nothing except the hunger for him in those unfamiliar yet beloved eyes. He fumbled with his own clothes, stripping hastily. He wanted to feel Alex against him, plundering him, hard and fast. He needed it so much. So he fell onto his hands and knees before Alex, ass towards his lover in open invitation. He saw a flicker of surprise on Alex's face at his unusually deferential pose, when he glanced upwards. But his own body was more than ready. He could feel his cock bobbing against his belly in salute to Alex, and with another moan, wiggled his ass at Alex.

"Oh god Alex. Hurry up. I need you so much. Now! Please. Do it hard!"

********

Brownhair had reacted with startling speed to the predator's preliminary sexual activity. Just his touching himself had made the human's breathing quicken, and astonishingly, he had pulled off his clothing in response to his arousal. It made things easier. The predator had been ready to rip at the body coverings with his talons if necessary, but apparently the human was intelligent enough to read his body language.

If that had been surprising, the human's next action had been astonishing, and utterly wonderful. He had dropped to all fours and presented himself in open invitation. What a glorious creature he was. So quick to divine the predator's needs, so willing to satisfy them. It would be so good to keep the human with him. To see his ready smile and feel his hot body every night. To pair with Brownhair.

Brownhair whimpered softly, and moved his ass in a summoning motion. The gesture drove away most of the coherent thought in the brain of one who had once been Alex Krycek. He moved forward and traced a talon in wonder across silken human skin, then when the human pushed against him, he thrust himself into the welcoming depths.

*******

It had been a long time. Alex must have been as hungry as he was for sex. He wasn't gentle, at least not at first. He had pushed his way inside Mulder with a speed and hunger that had taken Mulder's breath away. And though he was used to both Alex and Kulain inside him, he couldn't stop the small cry of pain as he was entered so quickly. He felt the discomfort soon turn to enjoyment though, as Alex, with unerring accuracy, pulled his body upwards, angling so he would impact the pleasure centre of his prostate. Alex drove into him in long hard strokes that made his lover scream out in ecstasy, until a hand fumbled its way across his mouth. No, it wouldn't do to attract attention here, even if they were relatively safe at the moment. Alex's other arm was wrapped around his waist, steadying him as his body was filled with each downstroke.

Mulder couldn't seem to keep his body still, he found himself helplessly pushing back against Alex, meeting him thrust for thrust. He was losing whatever fragments of control he had left. It had been too long, far too long since they had been together. He exploded, powerless to stop it, coming in an orgasm whose power drove away everything. And even as he fainted, he felt Alex cry out and spill himself inside Mulder. His last impression as he fell into darkness was the blissful sensation of Alex Krycek's arms around him.

*******

Wonderful. Magnificent. Exceptional. His Brownhair was all of those things. Taking him had been so incredible. He was so responsive, so beguiling. He had matched the predator's every motion when they had been locked together, in his eagerness to please. And it had been better than anything he could ever remember. Pleasuring himself in loneliness, he had never dreamed that he could feel so good. And he knew once again, with that strange certainty, that this was not the first time he had been inside the human. A whole chain of memories bubbled to the surface of his mind, fragmentary pictures of this man.

He lay, still half on top of the sleeping Brownhair, who was wrapped in his arms. The human had been overwhelmed by his lovemaking, and the ordeal of the previous day, and the predator tenderly let him sleep. Instinct told him that there would be time enough for more wonderful pairing later. Now was the time to rest and gather their strength, as he and his mate curled up in each others' arms. He smiled again in pure happiness.

His mate! Now that was a good thought. He gently stroked the flanks of the human at his side. Brownhair murmured something softly in his sleep, and nestled closer. The predator tentatively reached out to touch his lover's body, tracing a finger across the sleeping face, lingering on the full mouth. Perhaps his mate would like it. He brushed his lips in a slow caress across one warm shoulder, and found to his surprise that the taste of this man was an addiction he would gladly indulge himself in for the rest of his life.

Brownhair opened his eyes and smiled sleepily. An indication of human pleasure. The predator kissed him again, and resolved to experiment more with this uniquely human form of expression. He ought to find food for them, but he found himself too busy staring into the fathomless depths of the human's fascinating eyes. More deja vu. This too he had done before. And not as a demon. The revelation was startling. He had been human too, though he could remember little except the feel of that body next to his.

********

Mulder had spent the night in Alex's arms and had been woken by a tender kiss on the shoulder. He grinned up at his lover. Alex looked so happy, he had that knowing little look on his face. Mulder guessed that Alex was planning something good for later. He sat up on their makeshift bed. Alex had scavenged a pile of blankets from somewhere and made a sort of nest from them, so that even when the weather was bad, he would be kept warm. For of course, there was no power for heating. He wondered how the two of them were going to make it out of the city. Maybe Alex had done some reconnaissance in his time here. Mulder turned to watch Alex, who was sitting nearby, pulling on his rather dirty jeans. For that matter, though he hadn't noticed in the dark last night, Alex was rather dirty. There seemed to be a large patch of yellow stuff all across the left side of his torso. Mulder moved closer so he could see.

No. Not dirt.

Scales.

He stared at the unmistakable snake like patterning across Alex's side, centred at a double marking, apparently a healing set of puncture wounds. He stretched out a hand to touch the injury. Alex flinched slightly, and looked at him quizzically from his uncanny gold eyes.

"Is that from Tiamat, Alex? Did she bite you?"

Silence. Alex tilted his head to one side, a look of puzzlement on his face.

"Alex?"

Mulder suddenly realised that Alex had not spoken one word to him in the hours since they had been reunited.

"Alex, you're scaring me! Why aren't you talking to me? Alex........?"

More silence. Alex raised a taloned hand and gently cupped Mulder's face. He spoke then, uncertainly, in a voice rusty from disuse.

"Why do I dream about you so much? Who are you?"

Mulder could only stare at him in stunned silence.

Alex tilted his head to one side again and watched uncomprehendingly as a tear trickled down his Brownhair's sweet face.

*******

********

How do I love thee?  
Let me count the ways.  
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height  
That my soul can reach  
Elizabeth Barrett Browning  
********

The day following Mulder's departure from Washington..........

Kulain had spent the night cradling Sean in his arms, as his young bodyguard was tormented by nightmarish dreams of what may be, possibilities for the present and the future that were coming close to driving his human insane. It always started the same way, with dreams becoming more real, showing terrible things that brought Sean awake screaming in utter terror. Clinging to Kulain afterwards with a desperate trembling that only Kulain could soothe away. And almost immediately, the memory of them faded away leaving Sean bewildered and lost.

Sean had pushed Kulain away in the morning, as if he was ashamed of his weakness, and he refused to speak about his problem. Sean looked dreadful, his eyes reddened and deep shadowed, his face pale and unshaven. He wouldn't come near Kulain at all, and fled if Kulain came near him in his waking hours.

It was annoying, and Kulain considered it foolish. Tonight he would not let himself be rejected.

******

Sean glanced up as Kulain entered his room, and immediately looked uncomfortable. Kulain sank onto the bed next to him. Sean blushed, and edged his body away. Kulain had never pressed his claim or forced Sean to obey him, but he was determined to have his way tonight. His hand shot out and grabbed Sean's wrist. Then with incredible strength, he pulled the shocked man towards him. Sean instinctively struggled, but he was lifted effortlessly over Kulain's shoulder and conveyed to the demon lord's bed. Kulain had to admit that applying his strength in this situation was more than a little erotic. Sean beat his fists hopelessly against Kulain's back, then he was unexpectedly dumped on the bed. He tried to rise, but a big hand pressed down in the centre of his chest with implacable strength.

"If I have to, I'll cuff you to the bed Sean!"

The bodyguard fell silent, and sagged back in surrender. Kulain smiled back at the glare he received. He lay next to Sean on the bed, and wrapped his arms around the human in a gesture of protection or restraint, depending on one's point of view.

Sean stared up towards the ceiling and tried to ignore the proximity of this most powerful of beings who was watching him with faint amusement. Kulain gently traced a finger down his cheekbone, and smiled when Sean deliberately turned his face away.

"I'm sorry little one. But I won't let you destroy yourself like this. I've never harmed you, so why do you fear what I am?"

Sean was silent, but Kulain saw the faint gleam of a tear on his cheek.

"Show me again what you are....." he whispered.

Kulain sighed, and *shifted*, aware of blue eyes scrutinising him as they lay close together. In this form, he was bigger than the human, and he knew that alone could terrify Sean. He felt the bodyguard shudder, and wrapped his arms tighter, pulling Sean closer.

"What do you really feel Sean? It's not my appearance, is it?"

There was no response for the longest time, then a tiny shake of the head.

"Tell me Sean!"

"I still want you....... even like that! There must be something wrong with me!"

Kulain laughed. Considerately, he altered his appearance to comfort the trembling human again.

"Only love, little one. Now come here and show me what you feel!"

********

As he had expected, the problem came again that night. He had tried to exhaust his vulnerable lover with passionate love making, but even that hadn't obstructed the dreams that came. Sean began to moan restlessly in his arms. Even tightening his hold on the human's body and stroking him in a soothing gesture hadn't worked this time. Sean whimpered and his movements became more and more frantic, his head shaking in denial at some imagined horror. Then abruptly, he sat up and began to scream in dread. Kulain shook Sean hard, then resorted to a slap across the face, as he had done before.

Sean stared at him hopelessly. Kulain was beginning to think that it was a mistake to have ever let Sean become infected. He suspected that his DNA could have rare side effects on some humans. Was that what was responsible for Sean's escalating problems? Then blue eyes focused on him, and Sean desperately held out his hands in mute appeal. Kulain wrapped his lover in his embrace. How could he deny this, the *need* between them. Sean leaned against his shoulder, lost and in distress.

"I saw Alex and Fox, they were in trouble......," Sean said miserably. "They'll die if you don't help them. Alex has been hurt already........"

Kulain had frozen to stillness. Sean saw a gleam of unshed tears in his eyes. How could he have feared this being?

"If I enter New York, I break the treaty and doom many more humans to their fate." Kulain leaned back against the bed, staring into space.

"Aren't they worth it?" Sean faltered, his own tears starting to fall.

"Hardly ethical Sean." Kulain smiled sadly. It wasn't the real reason why he avoided New York, but how could he tell Sean the truth.

"Stuff ethics!" Sean muttered. "Can't you trick them somehow, make them think you're somewhere else?" He sensed Kulain's surprise. Then it was as if the idea made him shrug off the paralysis that had claimed him.

"Yes!!! Sean my love, you're worth all the trouble you cause!" Kulain seized his lover's head and kissed him firmly on the lips. He enjoyed the shy smile Sean gave. Then he prepared himself as a wondering Sean watched. The germ of an idea had come to him, and though dangerous in the extreme, it would let him watch over his two lost sheep. Fierce as a wolf.

********* *********

Back to the present..........

Azael had been outwitted at every turn by the annoying humans who claimed kinship with Kulain. It was more than humiliating, it was an all consuming fire within him that demanded revenge. The latest killing was the last straw. A demon's body, headless and mutilated beyond recognition had been found hidden in the pile of mangled bodies that had been removed from the entrance to the Citadel. It must have lain undisturbed for days. Azael couldn't understand why no missing servant had been reported. He was beginning to suspect that he was the victim of a conspiracy among his minions, perhaps a bid for power was being made against him. And who could blame them, for they had witnessed him being humiliated in such a fashion by the humans.

There was indeed only one way to save face.

He would have to rapidly capture Kulain's two doomed pets and have their heads displayed publicly on spikes at the entrance to his Citadel. A pity he would lose their potentially highly useful genes, but better to be safe in maintaining his position.

He gave the order for the hunt to begin. At dawn, the demons would begin to scour the city.

*******

Mulder had been digging into that vast compendium of psychological theory that had been accumulating in his brain for the last few years. Ideas that went all the way back to his long passed days in Oxford when he had studied every theory from Freud to Perls, with a bit of Jung thrown in for its exotic theories on the psychic. Unfortunately none of it covered the peculiar effects of being bitten by an insane female demon. For it had to be that incident that was responsible for Alex's condition. He wasn't insane, for he seemed to have excellent reasoning skills. How else could he have engineered their escape from the demons. He was affectionate to the point of the extreme, and Mulder had the impression that deep down, Alex needed the security of his presence. But his memory was, at best, fragmentary. It was Mulder's best guess that the demon venom had damaged portions of Alex's brain and only his body's back up demon abilities had enabled him to survive. But would he ever be normal again? Mulder knew the brain had an amazing ability to rewire itself, and Kulain could probably help Alex. But at the moment, they were on their own.

Alex turned from his rooftop vantage point and smiled adoringly at Mulder. They had been scouting the city for several days now, dodging patrols and trying to work their ways towards the city gates. But it was as if Azael had read their minds. There were never less than fifty demons in a circular holding pattern around the gate. The only way anyone was going to leave the city was if they grew wings, and Mulder didn't think demon DNA ran to that particular modification. He sighed softly.

The warmth of a strong arm creeping round his waist, welcoming and reassuring, indicated to him that Alex was aware of his worry. Mulder had noticed that his lover made up for his memory problems with an almost supernatural perception that read his moods with uncanny accuracy. He leaned gratefully against Alex, and it was no surprise when Alex slid in his embrace to spoon himself against Mulder, this time offering his own body for Mulder's pleasure.

Had he always been this uninhibited? In the open, in daylight, with a thousand possible ways they could be detected. Mulder gently ran his hands across Alex's hips, pushing his newly awakened hardness against Alex. He wanted so much more, but how could he risk his lover .....?

Alex moaned in urgency.

//Well perhaps if he made it quick and hard, they could get out of there//

The two of them had been unable to keep their hands off each other since that first night. Every few hours, as their bodies recovered from the last frantic couplings. Thrusting into each other in uninhibited, wanton desire. Making up for lost time and wasted opportunities. Even here, on a rooftop, within a stone's throw of their enemies. Mulder knew they would come together again. And he would lose himself in the warm welcome of his lover's eagerly offered body.

He tugged urgently at Alex's grubby t-shirt and jeans, and revealed the smooth curves of Alex's muscular body. His lover responded with a slow grind of his hips back against Mulder that nearly made him lose control before he had even begun. He pulled at his zipper and drew out his already respectable erection. With a moan Alex spread his legs and gestured frantically for Mulder to get on with the proceedings.

With a groan, he buried himself inside Alex in a single powerful thrust, finding his lover still slippery and welcoming from their last encounter, two hours ago.

It was hard to stay focused, enclosed in his lover's body.

He found himself thrusting frantically, pounding his way deeper and deeper, making Alex sob in his uniquely delicious way. Some fragment of caution made him cover Alex's mouth with his palm when he heard the tenor of the younger man's moans change.

Then Alex was bucking beneath him, groans barely concealed by the hand covering his mouth, as he came scant minutes after Mulder's first penetration. Which made his Fox come, in turn, from the sheer joy of being alive and connected with Alex again, his cries of passion concealed as he buried his face against Alex's shoulder.

They sagged together towards the roof that concealed them, Mulder's weight pressing the younger man down, and both of them lay still, joined together intimately, not wanting to break the connection between them. Mulder whispered sweet nothings in Alex's ear, and contentedly rested his head against warm skin.

Alex didn't speak much at all, these days. As if some part of him was no longer connected to the human world. Except for their intimacy. But there was a tenderness in the softly spoken words after their sexual encounter.

"Love you Fox!"

*******

How lucky he was. This glorious being was his, and from the number of times they fucked, he delighted in Alex as much as Alex enjoyed him. Having sex together was always incredible, as if they had been made for each other, or designed to melt into each other, close enough that their hearts would beat in an entwined rhythm.

He was ALEX.

Fox said so, and what Fox wanted must be right. Though he would have given himself any name his love desired. This one seemed particularly important for Fox though, so he let his lover use it freely.

Though it meant nothing to him.

Fox kept talking about human things and memories that he felt Alex should know. Alex wanted to tell his lover that all of this human foolishness meant nothing at all, especially if they couldn't get away from the city. All that mattered was each other and freedom. But again, what Fox desired, Fox got. Alex never wanted to be apart from him again, for if what his lover said was true, they had been together a long time. It was the only memory he wished that he had. But there was nothing. Except for the strange scenes that haunted his dreams, and a few fragmentary memories of Mulder's face close to his.

He was content to lie beneath his Fox for these few stolen moments, close to each other. But he knew they would have to leave soon. It was becoming increasingly difficult to stay concealed in the city. He knew, even if Mulder didn't, that there were ever increasing numbers of demon enemies on the streets, and they were implacably hostile in intent.

As if to underline that particular thought, there was a sudden stirring in the street below them, as the demons began to squabble over some hapless human that they had found hiding in the rubble of the city.

Alex pushed reluctantly against his Fox, not wanting to separate from Mulder, but suddenly cautious, needing to be concealed from the demons. Being like this was wonderful, but dangerous. The scent of their rutting would alert any demon who came close enough, Alex knew. He suspected that Fox wasn't as aware of the danger as he was.

The two of them silently rose, and readjusted their clothing, then Alex led the way downstairs, both instinctively cautious and quiet.

Alex was alert and ready to rip out the throat of any demon foolish enough to challenge his Fox's safety. But they reached the concealment of the basement quickly enough, and climbed through one of the skylights to reach the concealment of the alley.

Both men were hungry now. Since the demon scouring of the city had begun, all portable foodstuffs had been removed, in a deliberate effort to force the humans in the city out of concealment. And thousands more had died at demon hands.

Alex knew that he could survive on very little, with his adept claws as a resource. The rats would sustain him, as they had before. But he suspected that Mulder would balk at such measures. In many ways, his Fox was too gentle and civilised for the game of survival. Alex worried for him. He knew that there was no measure he wouldn't take to ensure their survival. If he had been the man of Mulder's memories, he might have been too human to survive, But in his present state, he was a product of the streets, feral and instinctively a survivor.

He would force his Fox to survive. Whatever it took. And the lessons would have to start soon.

**********

Mulder dreamed of hamburgers and greasy fries. Of hot ribs dripping with barbecue sauces and rare juicy steak, of sweet ices and steaming stews. Hunger had been gnawing at him now for four days, and he was beginning to feel light headed as his body began to demand satisfaction. He no longer had the energy to fuck Alex, and his companion kept giving him worried glances as they moved through the tunnels of the no longer used subway system. Mulder had hoped that they might be unguarded, but Alex had shook his head, as senses sharper and more practised than Mulder's had detected movement far away down the tunnels. They were in deep shit this time. With an increasing despair, he knew that their survival was unlikely now. The area they had to hide in was increasingly smaller, as the demons systematically began razing the city to the ground. Then they would start on the tunnels beneath the city. He believed they were going to die now, but the only question was whether it would be by demon action or starvation. The human body could withstand long periods without food, but not when forced to its limits, fleeing countless times to avoid demon patrols, And besides, he wasn't human anymore. The demon blood inside him craved nourishment, preferably bloody and hot, to sustain the superhuman demands he was making on it.

Alex stopped when he saw Mulder was flagging, and extended a hand in concern.

"I'm sorry love," Mulder whispered, "I need to rest....."

Mulder didn't know where Alex was getting his energy from, but he wished he had some now. He leaned back against the tunnel wall and stared blindly into the darkness.

*********

Alex realised that his Fox was almost at the end of his strength. He was shaking with exhaustion, and barely able to set one foot in front of another.

He would have to show Fox the realities of survival down here, and hope that his gentle lover was strong enough to cope with it.

*********

Mulder saw without comprehension, Alex suddenly becoming alert, turning away from him. Then suddenly, with a sound of glee, pouncing on something that scuttled in the gloom of the tunnel, talons extended. Mulder gaped at the rat Alex had speared on his claws. What happened next stunned him even more. Alex smiled sweetly, and ripped the rat in half. One half was dumped in the human's lap, and the other half.......

Alex began to noisily eat it.

He looked up and saw his Fox staring at him, white faced, as he finished his meal. With a small sigh, he nudged the food he had brought his mate. Mulder only whimpered softly, his eyes huge and round with shock.

"Strength!" Alex whispered softly. "You have to...... Please!"

He watched with a growing sense of admiration as a trembling hand picked up the grisly offering and Mulder forced himself to do what had to be done to survive. Such a brave, beautiful mate. He hugged Mulder afterwards, feeling the tremors that beset his lover, and gently soothed away the tears that fell from beloved green eyes.

"So strong. Love you Fox......."

********

Azael was increasingly beset by a sense of rushing headlong towards his own annihilation. The demons under his control were becoming increasingly restless and irritated by his incessant demands on them. Only fear and hatred kept them cowed, but he sensed that at the least opportunity, they would rebel against him. How had he fucked up such a promising opportunity? The other demon zones had largely took the example of Kulain and left their populations intact and healthy, in deference to the vile lord of Washington. And he hated Kulain even more now, because he seemed to have succeeded in transferring power to his hands smoothly. The humans proved unexpectedly amenable to fine words of peace and freedom. Not that they had much choice.

He had listened to Kulain and flung his indifference in his rival's face. He would create a brave new world from the ashes of humanity. His genetic experiments would crush humanity and restructure it in his own image. A pity his grand scheme was a failure. His over-enthusiastic vassals had indulged themselves, uncontrolled, in a mad orgy of destruction, and had even established links with the more unsavoury of the human population. But then there were not enough new victims to go round, and his demons began to fight amongst themselves.

He had in effect, wasted an entire valuable resource, and he was left with next to nothing. Only his rebellious army, and a few monstrous creations from his experimental labs.

He would have his revenge on Kulain, by public and very prolonged executions of Kulain's two pets. Then he would turn his army loose on the area around New York. Let the humans die. Forget their foolish truce. And let Kulain deal with the aftermath of his betrayal.

He would make sure that the humans remembered their kind until the end of time.

His delicious musings were interrupted by a messenger. The two half-human scum Kulain called his were cornered at last, in a tunnel beneath the city. He would indulge himself one last time in dark pleasures, as the two screamed in vain for their protector to end their torments. His trusted aide Gelissan padded by his side as he made his leisurely way into the subway. Soon, he would give the order that would lead the attack on the humans, and it was fitting that Gelissan was rewarded for his loyalty.

But first, Mulder and Krycek.

*******

How had it happened? Alex wasn't sure. His supernal senses should have detected their ambushers, and warned him in time. But he had failed. Between one heartbeat and the next, he and Mulder were surrounded by at least ten fully aware and hostile demons, circling them and trapping them in the tunnel. Worst of all, one of them had hurried off in the direction of the Citadel while the rest held the two of them at bay. Alex knew he would not give in without a fight. But he also knew that he hadn't a hope of winning any fight where he was so outnumbered.

Mulder was quiet and still, huddled at his back, watching the demons who circled behind them. Alex could feel his lover trembling, though he tried to hide it.

"I'll fight. You run.....," he whispered without hesitation, though the chance of escape was slight. A warm human hand crept into his, Mulder wasn't even bothering to shift his body in his defence.

"And leave you? No! We stay together this time my love!"

//He gripped the hand in response. He had chosen his Fox well. Loyal to the last. How he wished they could have more time to rediscover each other. Ah well, their short time together had been glorious. And he tried to ignore the human thing called tears that trickled down his face.//

Mulder whimpered then, seeing something approach them. Alex turned, and immediately felt the same terror. Azael watched them, smiling. He was going to enjoy this so much. With a disdainful gesture, he signalled to Gelissan to bring the first of the pathetic creatures to him.

Mulder's knees gave way beneath him, and he huddled in terror on the floor of the tunnel, Alex wrapping his arms round him to provide scant protection. The two of them clutched at each other pitiably.

"No!" Gelissan snarled.

Azael's head whipped round in stunned amazement, and he glared at his rebellious vassal.

"You think to find favour with Kulain by doing this?" He scowled. "I'll kill you first!"

Gelissan smiled mockingly. "I think not!" he hissed malevolently. His features began to slide fluidly, in an impossible transformation that revealed the truth. Mulder cried out incoherently, his face lighting up with hope.

"I killed your servant days ago, foolish one. Did you really think I would abandon my humans in your city? Never!"

"You broke the treaty!" Azael screeched. "All demonkind will rise against you for this! You gave your word. No interference in our affairs!" He began to laugh hysterically. "Doomed by your own actions. I never thought you were so foolish!"

"I'm not!" Kulain said maliciously. "But there won't be any witnesses left to speak against me".

For the first time in millennia, he released the controls he held on the power within him, his inheritance from his fickle but immensely powerful mother. Which had brought him such pain in the past. His two lovers were worth the risk, and he broke the vow he had made, that had held his power in check.

A vast explosion of energy expanded outwards from his body, evaporating every living being within a mile of the epicentre, as the firestorm boiled outwards. Everything except two frightened creatures that he held close to him, within the centre of the storm, before whisking them *elsewhere* in the blink of an eye.

Azael, his army and his monstrous creations were gone without trace, melted into the bedrock. And he had just complicated his life immensely, for his demon counterparts would seek the truth relentlessly.

Kulain of Kavala was once again using the energy that had wiped out his kind, when, young and foolish, he had lost control of his power. The power he had sworn never to use again. He was guilty of genocide. Now how was he going to explain *that* to Mulder?

********

The two humans had been stunned by the unexpectedness and speed of their rescue. Mulder was still shivering when they arrived back at the Green Tower in Washington. Then taking a deep breath, Mulder slowly released his death-grip on Alex, and grinned at him. An incredulous Alex managed a shaky smile in return. Then the air shimmered next to them and Kulain appeared from the gate he had created.

Alex had frozen, staring at his rescuer like a small animal caught in the headlights of a truck. He made a small noise of terror, deep in his throat, and shrank back, away from Kulain. A hand tugged in desperate urgency at Mulder's sleeve.

"Demon lord!" he hissed frantically, trying to drag Mulder away from his formidable foe. How couldn't Mulder sense the power of this individual, or the familiar tug on his senses of a being in arousal? Mulder wasn't even moving away. Had the demon lord tricked him. He felt despair then, was he going to lose his lover so soon after they had been reunited, after all they had faced together?

Mulder realised suddenly that Alex didn't remember Kulain at all. He turned slowly, and caught at the trembling hand.

"Trust me Alex. It's going to be alright!" He saw the extreme doubt in the still disturbing golden eyes. His reassurance didn't seem to have an effect. With a sigh, he gently disengaged his hand and moved towards Kulain. He heard Alex sob aloud. Gently he reached up and wrapped his arms around Kulain's neck, looking up into his taller lover's eyes. There was such welcome there. Being with him was always like coming home. He pulled Kulain's head towards him and kissed the warm and generous mouth fiercely, letting Kulain know how much he had been missed. How welcome his appearance had been. Powerful arms embraced him and he rested his head against the demon's shoulder and sighed. Then, remembering Alex, he clutched at Kulain.

"He's been hurt," Mulder murmured quietly so that only the demon could hear him. "He doesn't remember you....." He caught the flash of grief in green eyes. Then he slowly turned to Alex and held out his hand. "Alex, I need you to trust me more than you've ever trusted me before."

He was asking a lot of the fragile partnership he had managed to build over the past few days. But Alex watched him most of the time with such adoration, he could only hope that their bond was strong enough.

It was.

Frightened, but ready to follow him into hell if need be, Alex hesitantly moved towards Mulder's outstretched hand. After a long moment, and a swift, fearful glance at Kulain, Mulder felt fingers interlace with his. He tried to project reassurance, and drew Alex closer. Kulain had kept very still during the exchange, then he gave one of the gentlest smiles Mulder had ever seen from his formidable lover. Alex was shivering under that green gaze. A long taloned hand carefully brushed along the side of Alex's face.

"Don't you know me, little one?"

A frantic shake of the head. Mulder saw the shadow of pain Kulain tried to conceal.

"Then I won't come near you. Unless you wish it, of course." He looked sad. "Mulder will tell you that I would never harm either of you. You are in my protection now. You have the freedom of this place." He gestured grandly, then with a final veiled glance at Mulder, strode away.

Alex collapsed on the floor, sobbing violently, the moment Kulain left. Mulder reflected sadly that Alex wasn't going to be his normal self for some time to come.

*********

*His beautiful Alex was a pathetic remnant of his former self. Frightened and more than a little confused by his situation, he had still shown exceptional courage and loyalty to Mulder. Perhaps it would be enough to rebuild what he had lost. But would it ever again be as glorious as that time before Tiamat had wrecked their lives?

He wanted Alex with a desire that was almost disturbing in its intensity. But to show Alex that passion would be to terrify the younger man past all reason.

It was hard to be patient, when just to be in the same room as Alex made him hard as iron and aching for those smooth firm thighs closed around his waist, and the small noises he made when he was taken. And he had risked so much for his lovers.

With a sigh, Kulain left Mulder to look after his charge, and went to seek out Sean. At least he could always be counted on to open his legs and offer his luscious body for Kulain's delectation. Sean's ass alone was worth the few lies he had told the human about love.

For Sean was just a delicious little morsel.

Wasn't he?*

**********

The alien had adapted quickly to life in the city of New York, and now that there wasn't a strong leader among the demons there, it was time to take a chance. It had captured the strongest demon it could find, one of Azael's aides who had survived on the fringes of the firestorm, and had consolidated a position of power. Now, it would be easy to invite more of its kind to take over this place, and grow in strength. And unlike Area 51 in Nevada, there was no human interference here. The foolish humans even thought to offer up Kulain's kind in their place. But why have one set of slaves, when you can have two?

*******

Sean had woken from a restless nightmare yet again that night. Kulain had patiently performed the familiar routine of comfort and gentle support for Sean. Blue eyes gradually returned to brightly shining wakefulness. Sean watched his benefactor for a moment, then decided to speak.

"I saw you this time...." Sean whispered. "You were young, so handsome......, and you were in love with a blonde man...." He felt Kulain freeze, and looked apprehensively at the demon. A hand stroked down his back in reassurance, after a moment. "You were walking with him in a beautiful city.... then....there was blood, and he was dead!"

"A hired assassin." Kulain said quietly, sounding emotionless, but Sean could feel the tension still inside his partner. Sean shivered.

"I saw what you did next.....," he whispered.

Kulain sighed. "My past will always haunt me Sean. I pay the price every time I face one of my own kind. They hate me for the destruction I caused in my grief, the paradise we lost...... "

"Tell me what happened," Sean pleaded.

Kulain drew him closer, so the two of them were curled up in each others' arms. Was it finally time to trust one of his humans enough to reveal his past?

"We call it The Fall. A time when we lost our home, when it burned to ash in a firestorm, and few of us survived. A planet wide conflagration that killed millions of my race... and left only a few survivors, homeless, and with only the gates to help us escape."

"It was you.......," Sean knew the truth.

"I was always strong. My heritage from Amara. When they killed my love, I let loose my power on them. In my grief, I lost control........ It all burned......." He bowed his head, still tormented even after so long. "I swore never to use my power again..... and now I've even broken that vow!"

And then it was time for Sean to comfort *him*, as Kulain bowed his head and wept.

 

* * *

 

Dark Angel's Fire XI - Secrets and Lies  
Megaera  
1999

Feedback to FEEDBACK is life  
RATING NC-17 SLASH  
CONTENT WARNING m/m sex, violence  
CATEGORY M/K/Other,  
SPOILERS Desmond Morris has a lot to answer for........  
SUMMARY Alex tries to claw his way back to sanity.  
DISCLAIMER All X Files Characters belong to Chris Carter and Fox, I've just borrowed them for a while. I am not making any profit out of this, it's just for entertainment. The character of Kulain is mine but you can use him if you like, Mr. Carter  
COMMENTS This story is set in an Alternate Universe where demons can interact more freely with humans and can shapeshift. If you don't like my laws of physics, go find your own.  
THANKS to Czara as always for the beta reading and the encouragement, and Rowanne for the home on Terma. The drunk scene is for her.

* * *

Dark Angel's Fire XI  
Secrets and Lies  
by Megaera

*********

Our present patient had developed a peculiar talent for avoiding a knowledge of any facts which would have helped him in deciding his conflict........ He had to be forced into remembering what he had forgotten and into finding out what he had overlooked.

Sigmund Freud - Notes upon a case of obsessional neurosis (The Rat Man)

********

The aftermath of New York had been hard on his humans, Kulain reflected. A media frenzy was nothing new to him, but it was a matter of public record, substantiated by a frightened group of army officers, that Fox Mulder had been in the city when it all went to hell. And now that there was a substantial crater where the centre of the city used to be, the public image of a benevolent dictator that he had been cultivating had all gone to hell. Much like his relationship with Alex Krycek. At least *he* could be shielded at the moment from the glare of publicity. Sean didn't go out much, so Kulain and Mulder were the ones who had to field questions.

Mulder had been at a loss, not knowing what to say. That Kulain killed who knows how many civilians just to save his lovers? Even though it was probably a kindness to the few tormented humans left alive in the city. So for the first and only time in his life so far, Fox Mulder had colluded with Kulain and his claims that a dangerous infection had been excised in the city.

It was at least partially true.

********* *********

It had sounded so harmless at first. Join the lovely Sean for a few glasses of vodka, the drink he had been brought up with and could tolerate in huge quantities. Well, Mother Russia did impart certain skills in its nationals. Alex couldn't remember much about his hard drinking youth, but both Sean and Mulder seemed to think he was adept at this particular form of recreation.

So he sat down in Sean's room and practically poured the fiery stuff down his throat. If ever there was a time when he needed to relax and take it easy, it was now. Being in the same building as the formidable, frightening Kulain did strange things to him. He would be sitting in one of the tower's public rooms when a stray sound or scent would abruptly remind him of exactly who governed his life, albeit in subtle fashion. His perfectly honed senses could hardly fail to miss the demonlord's presence. But he refused to stay in the same room as his terrible patron.

Mulder and Sean both apparently cared for their dark lover, and eagerly went to him when he summoned them. The first time had been the worst. When Mulder had shown Alex exactly what he felt for Kulain by kissing him in front of Alex. Then, a few nights later, he had woken in the depths of the night, and found himself alone. He had crept almost silently out of his room, in search of his mate, and found Fox all too soon, in Kulain's bed and eagerly accepting the demon's cock inside him. The sight haunted Alex still, Fox in apparent ecstasy, legs wrapped around the demon as his lover slammed repeatedly into those lush depths. Mulder had been so far gone that he hadn't even noticed the stunned and silent watcher who stood in the doorway. But Kulain had seen him, and a smile had played about his lips as he possessed what Alex thought of as his. And worse, the demon had unmistakably invited Alex to join them.

Alex shivered at the memory. He had fled blindly, tears streaming down his face, and had met Sean stumbling back to his room, carrying a half full bottle of something alcoholic. He didn't remember Sean at all from before his ordeal. But there was an innocence and sweetness about the younger man that made it apparent he was no threat. Sean drank, oddly enough, because he *wasn't* in Kulain's bed, and he claimed that he needed the demon with him to chase away the nightmares. The two of them had shared the remains of the bottle.

And every time Fox went back to that other bed, Alex fled to Sean and the two of them drowned their sorrows. It was one human custom that he was glad to embrace.

Tonight he had no idea where Mulder was, away in some city or other, but Alex knew a way to forget his troubles. He felt so lost most of the time, his only anchor in the reality of the human world was Mulder. His beloved Fox, who felt so right in his arms. It had been so much easier when he didn't have to think about human things, in New York. To live on his instincts, to feel the exhilaration of the hunt and the chase. Whether he was the hunter or hunted hadn't mattered. Just to feel so alive was what had mattered. Here, in Washington, surrounded by other people, with a confusion of behavioural rules to follow, he felt so bewildered. It was hard to think in the human fashion, sometimes his brain refused to translate their concepts accurately, and there were huge blank areas in his mind that taunted him by their very emptiness.

He didn't really think of himself as human anymore. But did that make him the same as Kulain?

The Demonlord had been excruciatingly careful to avoid him, after that first disastrous encounter. Sometimes, he walked into a room, and he knew from the scent of the place, that Kulain had just left. The demon had superb senses, and could probably hear or scent him quickly enough to avoid him. It didn't help much. Sometimes Alex got so confused. Mulder was careful not to talk about Kulain. But Alex would have preferred it. Why did Mulder love a demon?

And despite himself, sometimes those dark eyes looked into his from the middle of his dreams. What he saw there made him wake, heart hammering, yearning for...... what.....?

No! What he suspected of their previous relationship wasn't possible! He couldn't have let Kulain touch him. Not ever!

It was too much for him to cope with. He had found an easy way to fog those blank areas in his mind, to forget that he had once been more. And the worst thing was that Mulder hadn't even noticed his struggles to stay sane. He was frantically busy trying to get permission to go into the other demon cities, determined to make sure the humans there were well treated and not subject to slavery. Of course. Alex understood. His mate was a gentle and compassionate creature, who would always try to help people. It was his nature.

Sean had noticed how troubled he was, possibly because he wasn't much saner himself. Though the one solution he offered was probably destructive in the long term. Alex liked the young bodyguard, he was uncomplicated and kind. Maybe he could even have loved the human, if he hadn't had Fox.

Alex knew instinctively that it was a bad idea to drink so much, so often. But he didn't know any other way to take away the pain. Lately, his dreams had been so confused........

He raised the bottle to his lips, not even bothering with a glass tonight, and swigged back a draught. One thing about his enhanced metabolism, it would burn off the stuff while he slept. No hangovers for demons if they drank vodka, though he would feel a little sluggish and his brain would take a while to switch on afterwards. The drink was perfect, pain free medicine then. And it got easier to take the next mouthful.... And finally you lost count......

********

Shit, the architecture in the Tower was so confusing. Alex shook his head, disorientated. It was weird, non human, and perhaps his brain still tried to interpret the organisation of the rooms in that familiar human way.

There! Wasn't that Fox's room? Why couldn't he remember? Yeah, it must be the bottle and a half of alcohol he had consumed. He shook his head dizzily and giggled to himself. The overdose of vodka was having a most unusual effect on him, he felt falling over drunk, but his mind was still active, and at the moment, he felt as hot as hell. He clumsily peeled off his clothes, and pushed his way through the door. He caught sight of the sleeping figure, a mound covered by a thin silk sheet. He giggled again. He was going to wake Fox up, and give him a nice surprise. He tugged the end of the sheet up, and slithered underneath it. He found a foot almost immediately, and began to kiss it nibbling at the toes.

The sleeper stirred.

Alex grinned to himself, and swirled his tongue around the ankle bone, nipping slightly at the smooth skin. From the sudden tension in the body next to his, he knew he had finally got the sleeper to awaken. The other remained still, waiting to see what Alex was planning. He giggled softly, Fox was going to love this. He began to lick his way up his lover's leg in slow swirls that managed to cover most of the territory between him and his goal. Slowly, so slowly across the well muscled calf, hearing the other's breathing quicken. Taking the knee between his hands and kissing it. There was no part of this man that he didn't love. Then the warm thighs, which parted slightly as he crawled his way up the strong body.

Here he spent far longer, blowing slightly in a soft exhalation across the smooth skin, hearing the other hiss at the torment of having his lover taunt him so. But his Fox was content to let Alex have his fun. Alex lowered his mouth to the tender skin on the inmost part of his lover's thigh, and began to suck on it, letting his teeth tease the sensitive spot, finally gently biting, marking his lover as his property, though not breaking the skin. His lover moaned softly.

Alex smiled, and continued his slow progress upwards. He was having more fun than he had experienced for weeks. And reaching the other's groin, he was more than pleased by what he found waiting for him.

"Son of a...... You're really pleased to see me!"

Time to show that he was just as appreciative. He gripped the other's upraised shaft in his left hand, awed at its dimensions, then, unable to restrain himself any longer, he tasted his Fox. He relished his lover's tang, the evocative taste that brought to mind nights of passion and made him shiver with longing. Well, from the size of what Fox had for him at the moment, he would be more than pleased with tonight's encounter. Strange, he couldn't remember his Fox ever being so magnificently proportioned. Was his mind playing tricks on him, or perhaps the demon DNA inside them was capable of altering their bodies in more than one way? He found himself lapping eagerly at the pre-cum that seeped slickly from the cock he held. He couldn't seem to get enough of that glorious taste, as if he was satisfying some deep craving for the other that he never dreamed of. And it was, of course, totally natural to take in more of his mate into his mouth, to try and satisfy the urge that seemed to have uncoiled in his brain. Before he knew what he was doing, he was astride the other, still under the sheets, his head lowered as he deep throated his Fox hungrily, frantically.

What was happening to him, where had this deep well of hunger come from? He was normally so gentle with his beloved Fox. So considerate of what his mate wanted.

He couldn't stop. The *need* inside him was so great. As if sucking Mulder off was making him as hard as hell, and part of his brain was short circuited by the very act of tasting his mate.

There was a hand then, steadying him, guiding him. Slowing him. Finally making him draw back, unsatisfied. He whimpered in protest, and the hand gently stroked his hair, soothing his lover. Alex rested his head against the strong belly, so very aware of the prominent erection that he held still in one hand, next to his face.

Strong hands gently detaching his fingers with a sigh, then gripping his shoulders and pushing him onto his belly. The body positioned itself closer, and with a feeling of relief, Alex knew that he wouldn't be unsatisfied for very much longer. He giggled into the softness of the mattress. In all honesty, he doubted whether he could have stayed upright for very much longer anyway. The effects of the alcohol were beginning to catch up with him now, and it would be so good to relax and let the other take care of him. He was anticipating something special tonight, something that would make up for those nights away with Kulain. If his Fox gave it all away to the demon, he reasoned somewhat illogically, then no wonder Alex never got to see what a big boy he could be at other times. He dismissed a momentary sense of wrongness.

Oh yeah. Alex was happy to lay back and let himself be taken care of with something that impressive!

He wriggled himself into position, and felt the other shift position too, then a kiss on the nape of his neck made him sigh in happy anticipation. The kisses began to work their way down his spine, and before he knew it, the talented mouth was exploring him intimately, probing his most sensitive and secret places, wringing more than one moan from it's victim. Alex thought that Fox was really hot tonight! He had never done anything like that before, not that Alex could remember, and it was incredible! Making his lover sob and push upwards helplessly, screaming incoherently, reduced to begging at one point.

And they hadn't got past the foreplay yet!

"Please. Hurry! I can't take this any more." Alex decided it was time to be shameless about what he wanted. "Do it to me hard now!"

A pleased sounding, throaty laugh was his lover's only response, but he felt the other positioning himself for an invasion of his body, and he eagerly spread his legs to facilitate matters. The alcohol had made his body fairly relaxed, so the other shouldn't have any difficulty in making an entrance. And when it came, it was as smooth and gliding a penetration as he could have wished.

Both of them sighed, and for a few moments, his mate just rested inside him, enjoying his lover. Alex couldn't stay still for long though. The pressure of the other inside him, was an exquisite sensation, and before long, he found himself pushing closer, wanting more, desperate to ease the aching in his own cock, needing the other to pound into him and satisfy him.

The other must have sensed his discomfort, for as soon as Alex tried to angle his hips to satisfy himself, that huge shaft was withdrawn, and before Alex could protest, it returned to fill him and he was lost. There was only that diamond hard shaft sliding repeatedly into him, sheathing itself with the regularity of a piston, reducing him rapidly to incandescent, unstoppable pleasure. Thought was gone, terror was gone. And Alex found a far better way to take his mind off his troubles than vodka. Though admittedly, screaming so much made his throat just as raw as the fiery spirit did.

Why had their lovemaking never been like this before? Perhaps it was because his Fox had never been so dominant with him before. He decided that he was going to let this all too addictive pleasure soothe his troubles away every night. Even to the extent of facing down Kulain if need be. Why should the demon get the best part of his Fox?

But it was hard to think on more than an instinctive level, hard to do anything in fact, apart from lie back and take what was being so gloriously given to him. Until it finally became too much and he found himself exploding into the silken sheets beneath him, jerking uncontrollably as he spent himself. And with a cry, his lover came too. Alex felt the sudden hot flood surge inside him, triggering aftershocks that made him moan in pleasure. The other's seed sank into his warm depths.

And for a moment, dizziness took him, and there was a flash like black fire across the inside of his eyelids. Memories seemed to flash inside his head, faster than he could process. Before he could even gasp, the strangeness, whatever it was, had gone. And with it, whatever strength he had left after his mammoth drinking bout and its aftermath. He sagged in exhaustion against his lover, and mumbled to his Fox to hold him tight. He felt strong arms enfold him, then let himself fall into a soundless deep sleep.

********

Kulain regarded the sleeping form with amused exasperation. He had been more than a little surprised to find his bed invaded by the one human he had never expected to approach him. And Alex had such an enthusiastic way of accosting his body. Well he had wanted Alex so much, he wasn't going to refuse such an open invitation to take the beautiful body. Technically Kulain supposed that it was taking advantage of Alex's apparent drunkenness. But he didn't value ethics *that* highly. Turning a horny and very hot Alex Krycek away from his bed would have been the act of a fool.

And besides, it was an opportunity to bond to Alex again after the other demon had taken him. To redress the balance a little, implant his genes within Alex again, hopefully ousting the foreign DNA that the interloper had inserted there.

Kulain cradled the sleeping human protectively through the night. For now, at least, Alex could have the illusion of safety. Though in the morning, no doubt, there would be hell to pay. Ah well, maybe it would make Alex think carefully about his situation. It might, at least, make him act cautiously to limit the disturbing amounts he was drinking lately.

And what was Kulain going to do about the similar problem Sean had?

********

He felt so good. It seemed like he had been existing on the edge of pleasure for so very long, without really understanding what it was. Last night had taken his relationship with Fox Mulder to a new and stratospheric level.

He sighed softly, and nestled closer to the body behind him, enjoying the weight of the arm that was carelessly thrown over him, holding him close to the other. Careful not to disturb the arm, he twined his fingers with his mate's. He found a renewed delight in the gesture, it seemed like he had never noticed how long and strong those fingers were, or how finely shaped the slightly pointed nails were.

Something nagged at his mind, a memory about Mulder that wouldn't quite clarify itself. Well it would come back to him later. His short term memory wasn't quite as reliable as it used to be. Or it could be the effects of consuming so much vodka. He winced internally, when he remembered exactly how much.

The hand round his waist began to trail downwards, and Alex was pleased to note that even after having his brains fucked out last night, he was still capable of a more than adequate response to its demanding caresses.

In fact, this time he would leave nothing to chance, and he languorously rolled onto his stomach and raised his ass in delicious compliance. The invitation was accepted with alacrity, and he felt his partner's morning erection slide into him almost immediately. He bit at the back of his hand to stop himself screaming as his tightness was invaded anew. Yes! That was the spot. There!

He felt so sensitive after last night, that it wasn't going to take much to make him come again. Then maybe he could persuade Mulder to stay in bed for a few more hours, and explore their new found rapture a few more times. He decided that one of the things he really ought to remember was exactly how abandoned he liked to act in bed. And surpass previous records .

Yeah. That was it, a few more like that would suffice. He yelled encouragement and approval, and his partner's efforts redoubled. He could feel the tension gathering in his balls, feel the tightness in his lower abdomen, and flung his head back, gasping, sucking in more oxygen as his body worked itself towards orgasm.

Movement caught the corner of his eye, even as his body began to arch in climax.

Fox Mulder stood in the doorway, his mouth open in disbelief, staring at Alex and his lover.

//What....?//

Then he was coming, helpless to stop his reaction to the incredible fire of the other moving within him. He screamed incoherently, again and again. The inferno inside him was indescribably good. He felt his senses overload, dizziness overwhelm him, even as he felt the other cry out as he came to completion.

"Alex! Oh my sweet Alex!"

//Kulain! It was Kulain who had slept with him! Because Mulder was away last night.......//

Mind as overwhelmed by the knowledge, as his body was by Kulain's touch, he fainted and carried the thought down with him into the oblivion that followed

********

"No...... Oh no........" Memory was all too quick to return to Alex this time. Of what he had done, and who he had done it with. And there was no blaming the demon, for Alex had initiated their encounter.

"Shhh it's alright. It's just me Alex." Mulder cradled Alex close, wiped away the tears that rolled down his lover's face.

"Tell me it's not true. Tell me I didn't......." Alex begged hopelessly.

"I'm sorry Alex. You did! And from what I saw, you had a pretty hot time last night!"

Alex tried to curl up in a ball, protectively wrapping his arms around his torso in distress. Not *him*. Anyone but him! Mulder continued to stroke his head gently, soothing him, as Alex turned bewildered eyes to Fox.

"He didn't hurt you, did he?" Mulder sighed with relief at the shake of the head he received. "I didn't think he would, he's not into pain like one demon I could mention. In fact, he prefers it when his lovers are enthusiastic"

Alex just shivered.

It was going to be a long day!

********

Alex sat near Mulder, not really wanting to be alone, but unable to talk about his confusion with his lover.

He had to get away. He needed to think. The turmoil he felt was all but overwhelming. What he had done. How it had felt. How very, impossibly good it had felt.............

It was a trick. The demon felt nothing for him. He was a sweet and convenient piece of ass, ready to serve the demon's warped desires. No. He wasn't going to think about what the demon had whispered to him in those last moments. Demons were deceivers, everyone said so. There was no advantage in loving a human, no reason for a demon to ....... love?

Demons were killers and rapists, hurting humans. Using them for pleasure.

//.......Oh, what pleasure........!//

They had no feelings close to humanity. They were cold and ruthless. He had seen so many killings and worse, in New York, the only standard he had to judge their behaviour with. He had never seen one, in all that time, touch a human with anything resembling tenderness.

//.....Alex, my sweet.......//

His head was beginning to ache with the quandary he found himself in. A dull throbbing that began at his temples and felt like a tight band across his skull.

Maybe another drink would help........?

He found himself on his feet and halfway across the room, before he had even reasoned out the impulse, reaching for the bottled oblivion. Mulder looked up from the report he was reading. The full lips pursed in disapproval, though Mulder didn't speak. Alex let his outstretched hand fall, and shivered slightly. Mulder dropped his file, and rose, approaching him. He moved behind Alex and wrapped his arms around him.

"I know it's hard, love. But you found out last night that vodka wasn't the answer."

Alex turned and returned the embrace, his tears flowing easily, soaking into the fabric of Mulder's shirt.

"I'm not giving up on you!" Mulder sounded fierce. "Let's get away from here for a few days. It'll give you some space. My mom has been wanting me to visit for a while, now that she's got her new house fixed up. We can go together, see the family, spend some time together..... You always loved her cooking! Would you like that?"

He felt Alex nod against his shoulder, and hugged his lover again.

"I'll have to tell Kulain where we're going, but give me half an hour and we can be out of here!"

He lifted Alex's head, and kissed away the tears, smoothing their tracks away gently with his long fingers.

"Go put a few things in a bag for us, and I'll be with you soon."

*********

Word had reached Kulain from a secret contact in the Department of Defence, a man who had an eye to his own advantage. Elements in the government were trying to develop a weapon against him. And a way had been found to neutralise certain of the demon control viruses. Using alien DNA.

But trying to annihilate demonkind was a foolish choice, considering the alien threat. Kulain knew that he would have to act in his defence. It was a major step, to neutralise that threat. To ensure the safety of his kind. But whatever conscience Kulain had was undisturbed. It was, after all, a factor in his plans from the very beginning.

A short phone call later, and he had arranged a meeting with certain right wing elements in Washington, allies of the Smoker. He had ensured that he was kept fully informed on their potential for destruction, ostensibly in case they acted against him. And now when they were poised to strike his kind with their virus.......

He would indulge in his favourite pastime, manipulating humans.

Fox Mulder entered, soon afterwards. He wanted to take Alex away for a while, talk things through with him. Kulain smiled at the memory of that morning. The awakening he had received from his young lover. For a moment, it had almost been as good as before; the old Alex without fears or inhibitions. Though he couldn't tell Alex the things he had wanted to, the apology for what had gone before, the loving promises of trust. Perhaps it was better that the two of his most precious possessions went away for a while. That way, they would be out of the line of fire.

Away from Washington when his plans came to a head, and the Smoker and his allies fell into Kulain's trap. And he took measures to assert control.

Away from the inevitable backlash that he expected would follow his coup against the government.

He gave his blessing to Mulder's plan and saw the relief on the young face. And the surprise when Kulain kissed Mulder's forehead and smiled at him in reassurance.

Yes. Better that Fox Mulder was not in Washington when his lover took advantage of the Smoker's attempt at biological warfare..

*********

Mulder's mother had exchanged her summer home in Martha's Vineyard for a secluded beach front property in Cape Cod, close to Provincetown. Far more private and secluded than her last residence. And most importantly, not subject to the glare of publicity that had spoiled the atmosphere of the last property. Since the house had been purchased anonymously, no-one knew of its connection to Mulder, and he was happy to keep it that way.

The two of them completed the long drive from Washington just before midnight, having set off quite late in the morning from the city. Mulder had warned his mother to expect him, and she tiredly greeted him when he walked into the house. He didn't miss the quick but apprehensive glance behind him at his companion. And the slight softening of her face when she saw that it was not Kulain.

Maybe this wasn't the best place in the world to be right now, but at least the new house wasn't filled with bad memories of his father and sister.

Alex sagged tiredly, almost propping himself upright against the wall. His eyes were incongruously hidden by sunglasses, and Mulder saw his mother's quick frown at that. He quirked an eyebrow at her.

"Where do you want us to stay?"

She led the two men upstairs and indicated the first and second doors to the left. For a moment, there was silence. Mulder shook his head.

"Mom.......... Alex and I are *together.* Please......."

With a resigned sigh, she nodded.

"The first room has a larger....... er......well....."

Mulder grinned.

"I think the word you're looking for is bed, Mom! And thanks!"

"Better Alex than *him,* Fox!"

Mulder forced himself to ignore the jibe, and pushed Alex in front of him, into the bedroom. He shut the door hastily, before his mother could make another remark. Alex stared round him with only minimal interest, his expression dull and lifeless. Mulder wasn't sure when the depression had hit his lover during the drive up here, but he found it painful to see the spiritless demeanour of his lover. Alex looked exhausted, both mentally and physically, by the day's events. Mulder pushed the unresisting man down onto the bed, hating Alex's passivity. Then he slowly undressed the younger man, and seeing Alex's lack of reaction, gave up the idea of having fun. Instead, he just wrapped his arms around his lover and drew him into a protective embrace. Within a very short time, Alex was asleep, looking strangely vulnerable in rest.

Mulder had always thought he was the weak one in this partnership. But not that night.

********

Mulder shook Alex awake at 6a.m. the next morning. He was glad to see more life in his lover, enough to mumble a curse at Mulder for the earliness of the hour. It had been fairly easy to bully Alex into a morning run. The two of them emerged into the cool freshness of the morning. There was still a faint mist lingering across the ground and Mulder found himself relishing the tang of the salt air. The two men jogged effortlessly along the firmer sand of the beach, so fit and athletic with their enhanced bodies that by the time they had covered a few miles, they were barely breathing hard or breaking into a sweat.

The sky was beginning to lighten dramatically now, and Mulder flung himself down on the slope of a nearby low dune and sat in silence, watching the sunrise.

Alex sank down next to him and stared out to sea. He did seem less tense though, less troubled than he had been. They just sat quietly, close to each other, listening to the sound of the sea. the distant lonely cry of a seagull. Finally Alex spoke.

"It's peaceful here."

"Yeah! We used to come to the beach for a few weeks every Summer when I was a child. It was always a good place to come when you needed to think."

Alex continued to stare at the lapping waves on the foreshore. "I'm sorry," he said finally.

"It's not your fault Alex. She used you. She messed with your mind and body. She hurt you so much! It's going to be a long time before you get over it."

"I don't think I'll ever lose the fear....." Alex whispered. "You don't know what it was like when I saw him. I couldn't stop shaking..... I just wanted to run away. I couldn't control it!" He stared in anguish at his mate. "I feel so lost....... I don't know who I am any more!" Alex's voice was rising as he spoke, and his last words were a heartfelt cry that shattered the silence of the place. The seabirds rose from their rest, crying, into the sky,

Alex watched them, his face wet with tears.

Mulder reached out and caught hold of Alex's fingers, gripping his hand tightly. "We love you, Alex! We'll always be there for you. It doesn't matter how long it takes."

"He loves me?" A frightened voice.

"Oh yeah! He loves both of us. I have no doubts about that. Do you really think I'd risk your safety? Ever?"

The fingers tightened on his, clinging to him like a lifeline.

The two of them watched the sun slowly rise over the horizon for a long time, silent and still, but not alone. After a while, Mulder slowly extended his arm around Alex's waist and the younger man leaned against him. And later still, rested his head against a supportive shoulder.

For the moment, it was enough.

*********

Felix Werne, the leader of the right wing America Free League was as ruthless, in his own way, as Kulain. And would stop at nothing to achieve his goals, given incentive and opportunity. Allying himself with the Smoker had brought many benefits.

An anonymous message promising certain information that would prove useful to him was therefore viewed as a promising opening to negotiations. The leader of the A.F.L. agreed to meet with his new informant in an abandoned warehouse on the shores of the Potomac. Werne brought two of his trusted lieutenants along for support, and both he and his men had concealed knives and handguns. The crew cut leader of over a hundred nazi-style "soldiers," Werne had not achieved notoriety and a fearsome reputation by being careless. He was ready to deal with trouble in any form. Which didn't make his extreme political views any less repugnant.

The three men waited somewhat nervously for their contact. They didn't have to wait long. A short laugh greeted them from the deep shadow of a supportive roof pillar. A figure leaned against the wall, face hidden by the darkness. The A.F.L. men pulled their guns and aimed at the figure. A chuckle was the only response, then the figure slowly reached into a pocket and pulled out a computer disc, which was thrown their way, Werne picked it up.

"Who are you? What is this?" He fingered the disc.

"A copy of your F.B.I. file, and details of current surveillance on you." The mystery figure sounded amused. "You need to be more careful. Letting your group be infiltrated so easily." The figure spoke casually, having just condemned two undercover agents to death.

Werne's eyes narrowed. "What do you want for this?"

"I want the demons out of this country!" Anger sounded in the stranger's voice. "Why, even now, our weak minded President is preparing to sell out his country to the demons. They want to give up ten more cities to those creatures!"

Werne's face went white with outrage, but caution still prevailed.

"How do I know this is the truth?" he demanded.

"In the next few weeks, the President will be having a big meeting with the demon leader Kulain. They'll have a press conference and announce the decision afterwards. It's just a matter of a few treaties being signed, then they'll present it as a fait accompli. You'll know it's about to happen when the President announces he's going to make a State of the Nation address.

"Why tell me?" Werne said.

"You have the reputation of a man who gets things done. I've heard that you plan to act against the demons. That certain men in Washington have given you the means. Men wiser than our small minded leader. Give me the information on when the war against the demons begins, and I can give your cause a significant financial boost."

The figure slipped away, leaving a thoughtful human behind him.

*********

It was so very easy to pull that one's strings. But certain segments of humanity always did prefer to think the worst of their fellows. It was easy to sow discord among them. As if their foolish bigotries made the slightest difference to the way they would die under a sharp talon! He would have to test *that* out when the fool had served his purpose.

*********

Mulder and Alex jogged back to the house, bodies moving in unconscious harmony, as they ran in step with each other. By now, the first tourists were making an appearance on the freshly tide-swept beaches, and the two fit young men drew more than their fair share of admiring glances. Mulder wondered if his mother had realised just how popular this area was among a certain type of man. He grinned at Alex, who had noticed the attention, and for the first time, was rewarded with a slight curve of those lips and a noticeable relaxation.

"I guess we look good together." Mulder said.

The smile became open and it was as if a ray of sunlight had hit the beloved face.

"Oh yeah!" Alex extended a hand, and the two of them continued the jog back to the house fingers entwined. They entered together, more than ready for a hearty breakfast.

Then Mulder saw who was waiting for them!

********

He must somehow signal to the stronger animal that he is no longer a threat......This is achieved by the performance of certain characteristic displays.......When he displays towards the attacker in this way, it stimulates a sexual response which damps down the mood of aggression.

Desmond Morris - The Naked Ape

*********

Sean moaned in despair, and twisted his body in the large bed, trying to get comfortable. On previous nights, for far too long, his routine had been to drink vast amounts of alcohol, and slide slowly into oblivion. And if he dreamed, during those times, he remembered none of it. Tonight was different. Tonight was hell. And he had brought it on himself.

As usual these days, he had started to drink at an early hour. Neat spirits now, no longer with the pretence of a few social drinks to relax him, to forget those few small worries he had. By early evening, he had consumed the best part of a bottle of Scotch. His increasing tolerance for the alcohol, and his metabolism ensured that he looked barely drunk. It took more these days to block out the voices in his head, the dreams.... the nightmares. And lately, a strange heat inside his head that seemed to be clawing at his skull from the inside, desperate to escape. Daytime was just a minor disturbance to get through, a time without the anaesthesia. Night time was the worst time. If Kulain wasn't there.......

But today..........

Kulain had walked in while he was searching vainly for another bottle, needing it now. Before the night came.....

The demon had stared hard at him, a little unnervingly. Green eyes had taken in his human's rumpled appearance, the empty bottle on the floor. Cat pupilled eyes had narrowed in annoyance, and Sean had seen the demon's nostrils flare, as superb senses smelled the odour of stale alcohol spilled on the human's clothes.

"Enough, Sean!"

But he had been too desperate for more to notice Kulain's anger. Then there was triumph as he found more bottles of what he sought. It was pretty easy these days to order whatever he wanted, to be delivered to the most prestigious address in Washington. He fumbled with the stopper, unconsciously extending one claw to pick at the soft plastic seal.

Kulain's hand descended, crashing into the bottle, sending it flying to shatter against the nearest wall. Then he was being picked up and shaken like a rag doll, over and over again. He was finally dropped, as Kulain's anger ran its course, and lay sprawled at the demon's feet, in a pathetic, sobbing heap.

"I didn't think you were a fool, Sean!"

The words were snarled, then Kulain swore softly. Terrified blue eyes were transfixed by the claws that Kulain had automatically extended in his rage. Tears stained Sean's face, and the human huddled in on himself, shivering in bewilderment and fear.

"Oh Sean. What am I going to do with you?"

Kulain sighed in exasperation.

He knelt beside the huddled man and drew him close, carefully stroking the tousled brown hair, finally gently rocking Sean in his arms until the man's terror faded. Sean's problem would not be solved by anger. He needed help and support to combat his alcoholism, and more importantly, its root cause.

Kulain's genes had entered his body and wrought massive changes. But not in a controlled way. Not like Alex and Fox who had gently been initiated into their new abilities. Mulder hadn't known what the consequences of his action would be. In Sean, the genes caused psychic turmoil and mental anguish. And there was such potential there, if only he could learn control......

He lifted the unresisting man in his arms, far stronger than a human, and cradled him close. There was one way to help Sean. He carried the human down to the basement levels of the tower, and opened the secret entranceway to the underground facility there. Sean was too far gone by now to even notice his surroundings, as the stress of the evening caught up with him. And the human didn't even raise his head when he was lain on a bed in a room deep underground and left to sleep it off. SHE regarded her unexpected visitors with surprise, and raised an exquisitely pointed eyebrow at Sean.

A small, giggling presence ran forward and was gravely swung round and thrown up into the air with consummate care. Kulain's small sister then returned to her play, greeting over. Most humans would have been surprised at Kulain's family regard.

And Amara sighed, even as Kulain had with Sean.

"I need a favour. Something difficult......." Kulain tried an appeal. His mother smiled, falsely sweet, and he knew it was going to cost him dear.

"You can help him, he needs to control his mental abilities. He's being driven slowly mad. And I thought that, as you're training my sister, you could also....."

"Train your human!" She glared at him. "If I must! But this time your payment will be obedience to me for half a human year! Is he worth that price?"

Kulain turned to look at Sean, lying sprawled on the bed, his face grubby and tear stained. This was the human he hadn't even considered in his latest plans. The one he thought he didn't love. The pretty but useless human who occasionally decorated his bed. He nodded.

"Only half a year? You're getting mild in your old age!"

The response to *that* was almost worth the price!

*********

Fox Mulder and Alex Krycek had returned to his mother's Cape Cod home to find that there was an unexpected visitor waiting for them.

Alex had known straight away that Mulder was both furious at and scared of this man. Which was odd, since he seemed to be a normal, rather elderly human who smelled rather unpleasantly of smoke. To Alex's enhanced senses, it was quite repulsive. But he didn't think that was why Fox reacted so negatively. There was something else.......

Alex studied the man more closely. His face was unfamiliar, surely they had never met? The watery blue eyes swept over the two lovers and the mouth creased in contempt. And something else when he saw Alex. Surprise.

"You look improved since our last meeting, Alex!" The old man sounded mocking.

Alex tilted his head to one side, trying to remember. And for just a flash, he saw the wrinkled face creased in a cruel smile, as he looked down upon Alex, standing at the side of Tiamat......

He gasped. Mulder gently pressed his arm.

"Go get changed and shower, Alex. I can handle this!"

Alex frowned, the man couldn't be a threat to Fox at his age, but that one uncertain memory made Alex feel soiled and dirty. He glared at the smoker, and jogged up the stairs to do as he was bid.

********

The Smoker stared at Mulder, and ignored the expression of disgust on the younger man's face. He had long experience of manipulating Fox Mulder, and knew exactly how to put him at a disadvantage. A suggestion of mockery at Mulder's relationship with Alex would anger the younger man, put him off guard. Interesting though, that Alex didn't want to beat the living daylights out of his old enemy. There had been nothing but puzzlement in the former assassin's expression when he had first seen his old enemy. After the recent events in Vegas, Alex should have been enraged at the sight of him. Then the rumours were true. The whisper of gossip that said Alex had been to visit the local hospital recently, in the company of Mulder and Dana Scully. And that he had been given a brain scan, the results of which indicated some sort of trauma. Oh yes, Spender had impeccable sources of information in the medical profession.

Alex was another one of Fox Mulder's weaknesses. But the biggest advantage he had over the younger man was the capacity for betrayal of someone in Mulder's family. His dear mother.

********

Teena Mulder walked over to her son and put a gently restraining hand on his arm. She gave Fox a pleading look, and shook her head at him.

"Please Fox! Don't be angry. I asked him to come, he's a very old friend of the family, and I needed his help."

Mulder stared at his mother, barely able to take in what she was saying. How could anyone want *that* man in their house? The one responsible for so much pain over the years. Who may even have engineered his father's death, and had tried to separate him from Alex more than once. Mulder closed his eyes for a moment and tried to get a hold of his temper.

"Your mother is concerned about you, Fox. And she doesn't even know everything about your unconventional lifestyle. For instance, have you told her that you currently have three lovers? Or that you undergo interesting transformations sometimes. The videos I've seen of those were quite a revelation." Spender was plainly enjoying himself, and his mother was making sounds of distress. Mulder reached out and drew her close.

"You don't want to listen to him, Mom. Look at him! He's enjoying this, hurting you...... I don't know what went on in the past but you don't have to rely on him for help any more. I have a lot of friends in Washington. And Kulain will help....... Whatever it is..... Please don't cry."

Teena clutched at him, sobbing. "Oh Fox, You don't know how upset I've been over this. You can't imagine..... I'd do anything to solve my problem. Anything!"

"What problem?" Mulder glared at the Smoker, who merely smirked. "We don't need him!"

Teena reached up to touch his cheek in an affectionate gesture. "You, Fox! You're the problem!"

Something cool scraped Mulder's cheek. He blinked in puzzlement and raised his hand to the tiny scratch. A single droplet of blood stained his fingers. Perplexed, he looked at his mother, who was smiling. An odd heaviness seemed to centre itself in his body, and he felt his knees fold under him. The next thing he knew, he was lying on the rug, his head filled with an incomprehensible fog. The Smoker smiled, and his mother briefly knelt beside him.

"It's going to be alright Fox. Trust me! You'll see. It's for your own good!"

The Smoker embraced Teena, his long time friend and more.

"We believe we can deprogram him in about six weeks. I'll send you news as often as possible. Don't worry. All you have to do is get rid of Alex Krycek as quietly as possible. I have some ideas on that. It shouldn't be too difficult, he's a wreck of a man, with virtually no reasoning skills left. He'll believe whatever you tell him! "

Mulder moaned in protest, tried to move, to cry out, anything.

//Not Alex! Please!//

Instead, he felt himself slip deeper towards oblivion. He barely felt a couple of goons carry him towards a waiting van. Spender looked amused.

"Without the late, unlamented Tiamat, we wouldn't have learned half as much about demonkind, Fox. You can thank her for the new drugs we have, and some other interesting little devices that you're going to know intimately in the next few weeks!"

Whatever the drug was, it was highly effective, for Mulder was, by then, unconscious.

********

Alex emerged refreshed and alert from his shower. His mate had been right of course, the physical activity had made him feel much better. Alex changed into a thin t-shirt and jeans. Mulder would enjoy the way he looked, he always joked that Alex had been poured into the tight denim, and found an excuse to pull Alex close and fondle his ass. That was one of the things he loved about Fox, the affectionate relationship they had, and the way his lover demonstrated it. He wondered if Fox was finished talking to the evil smelling old man, he couldn't hear any sounds of an argument, and Fox was the sort of man who would stand his ground if he was feeling threatened. There was silence from below.

Something about the quality of that silence set his nerves on edge. He felt an uneasiness he couldn't quite explain, and automatically *shifted* so that he could better study his surroundings. He knew Fox had told him not to, but he couldn't help it. There was a sense of wrongness that his less civilised instincts told him was a threat to him and his mate. And yet his senses could detect nothing except a lingering trace of smoke. The bearer of that scent was long gone. There were other odd things. He couldn't hear or smell Fox anywhere, and there was just a trace of an acrid scent that he didn't quite recognise. And yet........

//Memory sparking....... an office, a woman smiling at him....... reaching out his hand to her, then.....//

The scent was associated with something bad that had happened to him, though what, he wasn't sure. He went downstairs and prowled through the rooms, looking for traces of his mate. Mulder's jacket was casually slung over a chair. He breathed in the scent of it deeply. It did nothing to ease his disquiet. Then Teena Mulder came in.

His nostrils flared at the sudden acrid scent of her too strong, too sweet perfume as it swamped his senses, and automatically *shifted* back so that he felt more comfortable. She didn't notice the brief flare of green in his eyes. He briefly thought that she smelled like a piece of carrion. She wouldn't have understood the amusement he felt, and it was soon overwhelmed by his concern for Fox. Well he would have to ask her!

"Where's Fox? I thought we were going to have breakfast." Alex kept his voice casual, trying to hide his worry.

She smiled in a motherly fashion, and patted his arm.

"You poor dear. I know your memory is bad. Don't you remember? Fox left. He told you he wanted to be on his own for a while...... He never was very good at saying what he felt, but I think this business with your head injury has upset him more than he told you."

"What?" Alex said slowly.

Surely he would have remembered Fox leaving. His memory *was* bad, but could it be that deplorable? Bewildered now, he stared at Teena, who wore a motherly expression, and reached out to pat his arm in consolation.

"He needs some time to think, that's all. Reassess his life, he said. I think. He'll be away a while, with his friend. Well can you really blame him dear, you aren't exactly a stimulating companion any more, are you? He can't exactly hold a meaningful conversation with someone who can't string two sentences together, now can he?"

Alex flinched, a look of distress showing on his face. His sense of wrongness was swamped by the malicious lies Mulder's mother told. Teena shook her head doubtfully.

"Perhaps it would be better if you leave now Alex. I really don't want a person like *you* staying here any more. Well, it just doesn't look right. The neighbours would talk. I'm sure you can find the sort of company you need in town." Her smile became malicious. " I understand that intelligent conversation isn't a requirement in some of those establishments......"

Almost purely gold eyes flared bright with anger. Alex found himself *shifted* and claws extended with no clear memory of the transition. With a snarl, he stepped forward, and had the satisfaction of seeing Teena screech and recoil in disbelief. For a brief instant, he was tempted to strike her down, rend and tear uncontrollably...... But it was only for a split second. Then his instincts were under control. But not his tormenting emotions. No. He didn't really mean her harm. But why would Fox leave him? Why? Unless he really was a burden, and she was telling the truth. What reason would Fox's mother have to lie? His thoughts trapped in a maelstrom of doubt and confusion, he fled from the house, unconsciously tracing the route he had taken hours earlier, towards the beach.

//He was alone. Fox had gone and he had no-one else that he trusted. The reality of it was overwhelming//

He wept.

**********

Much later, Alex stared out to sea, forlorn and desolate. Fox had gone and he had never been so scared in his life. He was beginning to realise how much knowledge he had lost over the past few months. Because he wasn't functional in human society any more. He had fled from Mulder's family home after the scene with Teena Mulder. There was an aching confusion in him, and he didn't know what to do any more. He had barely been able to restrain himself from lashing out at her with demon claws, as hatred and despair filled him at her cruel words. And had taken the only way out. He had fled, down to the beach, away from humanity and its persecution. Once, he would have been able to answer with words, but now they wouldn't come.......

A tear slowly trickled down his face as he remembered walking down the same stretch of beach with Fox.

//Why did you leave me alone here?//

//Where are you Fox? Come back to me, please.....//

He knew something was wrong. There had been an atmosphere in that house that he couldn't explain. He only knew that it felt more dangerous than the time they had been fugitives in New York. He had wanted to leave when he had seen the Smoking Man, but Fox had an insatiable curiosity......

There was something about the stranger that was hauntingly familiar. Some part of that contemptuous smile that had triggered recognition in him. And a single brief flash of memory, more of an image, the man with Tiamat, laughing.........

He jerked his head up at the sudden wail of sirens, and stared in astonishment at the three police cars that were heading towards him, along the beach road. He couldn't suppress a surge of primitive terror. Instinct took over, and he felt himself *shift* again. He spun round and began to run, far faster than any human could have, away from them, along the beach.

Teena must have called them, when she had seen what he become. Not trusting her son's judgement, she had committed one last betrayal. The instinct to kill her had probably been the correct one. He snarled as the emotions within him boiled over.

The cars were keeping pace with him as they ran parallel to the beach. He sensed movement ahead of him, and realised that there was a fourth car in front of him, and that he was racing into a trap. With another snarl he swerved, intending to run past it. A human appeared from the car, pointing a shotgun at him, yelling something human that his brain refused to process, something about stopping and surrendering.

There was a threat to him. His demon self processed *that* adequately, and he moved faster than they could have anticipated, coming in low, lashing out with a clawed hand, taking out the human and leaving him groaning and bleeding on the sand. Then he was past the obstacle, and running again.

He had reached the edge of town, and before him was the pier. There was a mass of humanity before him, and his mind baulked at their closeness. His instincts instead made him flee up the steps of the pier, and along it, towards the sea. He was subliminally aware of his pursuers, more of them now, following him as he fled. He barely registered the screams of frightened people on the pier, as he passed them, claws bloody. Then he was at the end of the pier, cornered, with no place else to go.

**********

Kulain frowned as the phone made its irritating human signal for attention. It was something he had gotten used to over the years of dealing with mortals, but occasionally, he wanted to tear the thing out of the wall and fling its ringing hell against the wall. Fortunately, today was not such a day, though Mulder's absence caused a keen pang. He answered and frowned at the unexpectedness of the call. It had been a long time since he had heard from his erstwhile colleague Kowalski. But the former cop had never been as frightened by him as some humans he could think of. And when Kowalski had heard of an unusual situation developing in a certain, familiar Cape Cod town, he knew of one person whose opinion he would value.......

//What the hell was Mulder playing at?//

He thanked the human, and almost immediately, made preparations to go to the place in question. And as the fire of the Otherworld surrounded him, he could only wonder at this new development.

*********

"He's holed up at the end of the pier. We can't get a clear shot at him without risking more men!" The local law enforcement officers were clearly not willing to risk a close encounter with a demon. The local police captain turned to the man who had just arrived and taken charge of the situation. "You know who you look like.....?"

Kulain smiled briefly, and drew off his sunglasses, that hid his non-human eyes. The captain gasped, and took two or three steps backwards in fear. It wasn't every day that he came face to face with a real demon, and today he had seen two!

"You wanted an expert, didn't you? One who could quietly deal with your problem without angering the demon authorities......"

The cops were suddenly all too eager to leave this problem to Kulain. He gave the instruction to clear the pier, and when there were no more humans nearby, he made his way stealthily to the end of the pier.

Alex sat on a seat there, apparently casual, as if this was an everyday occurrence. Kulain wasn't fooled. He was breathing too rapidly and his shifted talons were just visible from the position of concealment Kulain had adopted.

Kulain studied his beautiful Alex for a while, content to observe him, giving Alex a chance to calm himself. But finally, some sense of his presence must have conveyed itself to the younger man, because Alex whirled, talons ready, and glared in hatred at the interloper. Kulain stepped into the open, revealing himself to Alex. He saw the gold eyes widen, and a sudden terror replace the aggression. But shifted, Alex snarled, and lunged at him unexpectedly, in desperate defence.

He didn't want to hurt Alex. Nothing in the world could make him use his own talons on his beloved. But something was gravely wrong here. Where was Fox? And why was Alex so scared that he would resort to *this* to escape pursuit? Kulain had to know! So he spun away from the attack, blindingly fast, and then Alex was past him, running towards the cops who waited at the shore end of the pier.

If Alex reached them, he would be blasted by at least a dozen shotguns, and as many service revolvers.

Kulain lunged, with all his strength and speed, and as Alex moved away from him, the demon slammed into him from behind, knocking Alex to the wooden deck. The younger man yelled, as panic took over, and struggled hopelessly to escape. Kulain pulled Alex's arms behind him, then used the demon cuffs he carried to restrain the younger man. Alex began screaming hysterically.

//......the demon had tied him........ the demon was going to rape/hurt/kill....... the demon was too strong.... too evil... too close........//

Kulain swore, as Alex's efforts to escape redoubled, and he kicked and bit at his lover in a terrified frenzy. Kulain hadn't wanted to do it this way, but the call of Alex's demon instincts was proving too strong for him to control at the moment. He *had* to get the younger man away from here, back to the Tower, away from prying eyes, before he got himself killed. There was no recognition in the golden eyes, none at all. Not that Alex had much trust for him anyway, but he could still be open to reason when he was in his right mind.

Reluctantly, Kulain made the choice. There was a way to control Alex's behaviour on an instinctive level, though not one he would have chosen normally. On a biological level, Alex was bonded to Kulain as a demon pack leader, an alpha male. And in pack behaviour, other males always yielded to the strongest.

He had triggered a similar, though not so intense response in Sean and Fox when he had first seduced them. Now to let Alex discover it.

He wrestled with the younger man, until Alex was face down beneath him. The implications of that posture didn't escape him.

"Stop it Alex! Be still!" The body beneath his continued to twist and struggle. Kulain caught hold of the other's shoulders and shook Alex. In asserting his dominance, he knew he would run the risk of awakening his own predatory instincts. He felt his body begin to alter as he called up unfamiliar pheromones. He held Alex tightly, letting his changed scent drift into the other's range of perception.

Alex stiffened slightly, shook his head as if to clear it.

"No......" Alex whispered, struggled briefly again.

"Don't fight it little one. You have to yield to me...."

Alex moaned, tried to lift his head, but the instinct was becoming too strong. Biological systems that had been long programmed into his system by Kulain were beginning to activate. Keyed only to one being in creation. There was no longer any thought of escape, or any *human* conscious reasoning. Only the relentless urge to do what he was made to do. Kulain smiled and let go of Alex, deciding that it was probably prudent to move away from him.

Kulain watched as Alex went still, then moved slightly again, this time adopting the posture of submission as he surrendered himself to his pack leader. Head and shoulders low to the ground, ass in the air, ready for whatever his pack leader wanted. The cuffed hands behind his back didn't help him.

Kulain felt a red mist seem to float in his vision. The urge to take, to force his will on Alex was becoming overwhelming. His kind were creatures who followed their instincts closely, and it was hard, *so* hard to stay in control. So many powerful instincts were being triggered by Alex's responses. Alex made a tiny little whimper in the back of his throat, and edged his legs further apart. Before he could stop himself, Kulain was on top of his lover, pushing him down, biting at the back of Alex's neck to mark him as Kulain's personal property, rubbing himself against the compliant body, overlaying it with his scent. He could no more have stopped himself, than if he had been a wild animal in the plains of Africa.

But somehow, once that part of the ritual was over, some awareness returned. Kulain was able to gather his shaken thoughts together. He pulled away from Alex again, and was almost undone once again by Alex's small whimper of protest. He realised that Alex had a rock hard erection between his legs, and that the younger man's body was probably crying out for release. As was his. Demon pheromones had that effect on humankind, but the reaction could be a two edged sword.

He reached down and pulled Alex up. The younger man swayed unsteadily, barely able to stay on his feet. Kulain looked into the glazed eyes and decided that perhaps an arm around Alex would be necessary for support. His normally sharp mind was itself fogged by the urges he felt still. He led Alex down the pier, the younger man swaying unsteadily, barely able to walk, and leaning into him. Kulain reasoned that the contact between them was wholly, deliciously necessary, and kept as close as possible to Alex.

Damn, but he needed to hurry the formalities, get away from the cops, take Alex somewhere quiet....

Yes! Alex needed to recover..... That would be *good* Somewhere quiet, where they wouldn't be disturbed for a long time..... A soft, comfortable bed like the one in Alex's tower room......

They weren't detained long. The cops were far too wary of Kulain to even comment about his slightly less than conventional interrogation techniques. Kissing Alex with a frightening intensity, that almost made the cops feel sorry for Kulain's prisoner. Except that the prisoner was all too eagerly joining in, despite his restraints, with body movements against Kulain that definitely weren't in the training manual.

Sweeping Alex up in his arms, Kulain had finally made his escape, and had taken both of them straight to Alex's quarters. His lover's soft moans, and the compliant body close to his were impossible to ignore. Claws had effortlessly stripped Alex of his clothing and removed the cuffs. Alex wasn't going to escape anywhere in that condition. Alex had been cast onto the bed, moaning incoherently, unable to keep his body still. The sight of his prize writhing before him, lost in the maze of his traitorous instincts had sent a wave of arousal through Kulain. He wanted to stop, to gently soothe away Alex's turmoil. But he couldn't. His own urges were all but overwhelming.

Alex groaned, slid one hand across his naked chest to pull at his own nipples, making small sighs and drawing his knees up beneath him so that he was once again offering himself. Still driven by the relentless urge to submit himself to pack discipline, Alex's body had been designed to accept and even enjoy this.

Kulain didn't even feel himself *shift*, though he had a vague recollection later, of seeing his demon fleshed hands on his lover's creamy white flesh. Clawed fingers pulling the body closer, hearing Alex panting, mouth open as he sucked in lungfuls of air to aid the chemical reactions in his blood. Fingers coursed over Alex's body, making him whimper with passion, then working their way inside. Not entirely gentle, not when he *needed* this so much.

When they both needed this.

It had been so long since he could indulge himself this way with a partner.

His fingers found the centre of pleasure inside Alex, and a cry of pleasure was wrung from his lover. At that sign of readiness, Kulain sheathed himself inside his lover, and began thrusting urgently, desperately needing to quench the fire that raged inside him. He rode Alex with a strength and ferocity not common in his lovemaking. And from his lover's response, it was equally stimulating to Alex. The younger man's body was pushing back against his, and he was moaning incoherently. Not that either of them was thinking at that moment.

Kulain angled his thrusts to bring his partner gratification, an instinct of sorts, born of long familiarity with this man's body. A long fingered hand made its way to Alex's erection and began pumping it vigorously. A pace and power destined to make Alex come in minutes. Kulain's skill didn't desert him. The younger man's body spasmed around him, and Kulain felt his palm fill with Alex's semen. Kulain cried out in his passion, and came, flooding Alex with his seed. The demon raised his hand and licked it clean, savouring the flavour of his lover. Completing the ritual by tasting the fruit of his efforts.

The instinct receded then. The danger that his loss of control had brought. He could easily have hurt the younger man in his carelessness, and only luck had prevented it. He didn't want to think about how close he had come to cutting Alex when he had ripped the clothes off the writhing man.

Kulain felt physically and mentally drained by the day's events. He pulled Alex closer to him, and lay spooned behind his lover, who was by now sinking into an exhausted sleep. Again, the proper reaction for a pack member who had just been disciplined. To stay lying down after an orgasm given by the pack leader, so that the newly introduced DNA in his body would have time to implant itself in the genes. Instead of leaking out of an upright body.......

There would be hell to pay tomorrow. Again!

********

Kulain was roused out of his rest by sobbing from the man in his arms. It came as no surprise to find that it was early morning, and that they had both slept so deeply that neither had moved.

Alex was awake and staring down at the green tinged arm that was wrapped round his waist, and tears had begun to soak the pillow beneath his head. He was too scared to move, which was probably just as well. Kulain heard Alex give another small sob.

"Hush my sweet. Don't be afraid. I won't harm you." Kulain gently stroked the warm shoulder, tightening his other arm automatically in reassurance.

Silence.

"We both got carried away last night, I think. I'm sorry. I didn't intend to lose control like that. Did I hurt you?"

"No...." A tiny whisper.

"We have to talk, Alex. You were so confused last night that you didn't know what you were doing. I had to catch you, bring you here. Where's Fox? Why wasn't he there to help you?" Kulain was concerned.

There was a small pause, then another whisper. "Gone!"

"I don't understand Alex. He wouldn't just leave you like that. Alone. He knows how hard it is for you......" Kulain gently drew Alex closer to him, so he could look into the tear stained face. For once there was no revulsion there, only a deep, desperate loneliness and bewilderment.

"His mother...... she said he had left...... with the man who smoked. Then she said terrible things. I ran, and she called the police......."

Kulain's eyes darkened in rage.

"So...... they play their games once more. Do you want him back Alex?"

"Yes! How can you ask that!" Alex's passionate outburst cut through his depression.

"I had to know how strongly you felt about him. If we work together, we can get him back my love. But you're going to have to get over your fear of me........"

Gold eyes rimmed with green stared at the demon who was both lover and fearful monster. Kulain could see the younger man gathering his courage. A brief nod then. He smiled and kissed his lover's forehead. Alex managed to bear the affection with a brave face, though Kulain sensed him tremble slightly. It was a first step in the right direction, though he doubted if Alex would be comfortable in his company for a while.

Alex slithered out of his grasp and headed for the shower. A pity he wouldn't welcome company at the moment. Kulain reluctantly dragged his eyes away from the hard muscles moving beneath silken skin across Alex's firm ass. As Alex moved away from him, he set his mind on the problem at hand. Why had Spender taken his Fox, and where would they go?

*********

Mulder could guess now what despair Alex had felt when he was captured and had no prospect of rescue. They had all too eagerly shown him the newscast. His lover running from the police, wild eyed and inhuman, and the men following him who carried an arsenal of weapons. The reporter had given the impression that the fugitive demon would be shot on sight. That a creature like that could be found in a residential suburb, and could put lives in danger! A demon who had chosen to ignore his races' promise to stay in the demon zones! No mercy would be shown. The one close up had shown a brief glimpse of Alex's panicked face. Mulder knew his lover well enough to see the absolute terror in the golden eyes, the bewildered, uncomprehending misery.

He had screamed and begged his unseen captors to let him go, to help Alex. He would have offered them anything. But there was only silence. The wall mounted t.v. was switched off soon, so that he didn't see Kulain arrive to rescue his prodigal lover. Mulder was left alone in a plain but clean cell, utterly isolated and alone. A camera watched his every move, and the odd collar round his neck prevented him from using his unique abilities to escape.

He was going to get out of there, find Alex and damn anyone who tried to stop him. Sooner or later.......

*********

Deep in the darkest part of the following night, a storm began to gather over Washington. At first humid and hot, then as the storm began to break, lightning streaked in spectacular forked displays across the sky. It was quite a spectacle, and the rolling thunder was like a continuous drum roll overhead.

Kulain lay back on his bed, enjoying the sight which greeted him through the wall to wall window which made up one side of the room. He loved the elemental forces that he could perceive on the edge of his senses. It would have been easy, but too indulgent, to link his mind to the storm and become part of it, to feel the elements crashing around him.

A small sound caught his attention, even through the noise of the storm.

Alex cowered at the entrance to the room, eyes wide and frightened, scared of his demon lover, but unable to bear solitude on a night like this.

Kulain remained still, patient, waiting to see what Alex would do.

The younger man inched closer, hesitant, and finally stood a few feet away from the bed. Since their spectacular reunion the previous day, Alex had stayed away, unable to bear the conflict inside him when he was close to the demon.

Kulain turned his head, showing Alex that he was aware of his nocturnal visitor. He smiled gently, and edged to one side a little, to make room for Alex. Half afraid, the younger man joined him on the bed, and when no moves were made to alarm him, Alex closed the distance between them. He rested his head on Kulain's shoulder and gave a tiny sigh. And when Kulain's arm went round him, he didn't flee, but accepted his lover's reassurance.

After that he wasn't afraid any more.

********

Alex cast a nervous glance at his powerful lover and shivered apprehensively. He wasn't quite sure how it had happened, but somehow, he had ended up sleeping with the big demon. And the memory of their lovemaking was something he was sure he would never forget. He had never been so thoroughly satisfied even with Mulder. Perhaps it was the edge of danger that sex with Kulain brought. But at least Alex wasn't alone. There was someone to hold him when he felt lonely. And his body's needs were well taken care of.

Fox had disappeared off the face of the Earth, and none of Kulain's contacts could find him. And the link Kulain had with his lover seemed to be severed. As if something was shielding Fox from prying eyes.

It had been nearly a week since Fox had disappeared, and there was a nervous atmosphere among the government officials who met with Kulain. As if there was a storm coming. Alex sensed danger, but he couldn't put words to his intuition. He had tried to explain to Kulain and his protector had given a brief approving smile.

"I feel it too, Alex. And I have my suspicions about certain government departments. Trust me for now!"

And so it was that Alex found himself accompanying his lover down the stairs into the depths of the Tower. And to his astonishment, he was led into a part of an underground complex that he had never suspected was there. The two of them entered a huge, richly decorated circular chamber, and sat at a grand round table. After a few minutes, others entered the chamber, and took their places around the table. They numbered twelve, plus Kulain and himself. One woman smiled at him, silvery hair glinting in the light. Another had a feline grace that was almost hypnotic. The others were of all physical types. A dark skinned woman with disturbingly pointed teeth, A copper haired beauty, a cold blue eyed man who was more than he seemed and a cloaked woman who he would swear had more than two arms, and moved in a disturbingly serpentine way. One terrible being was a dark, writhing shadow that made him feel sick, just looking at it.

He couldn't deny what his senses were whispering to him. They were all demons. Their eyes.....

"You brought *that* with you" The blue eyed man snapped at Kulain.

Alex's protector smiled coolly. "What if I did! He dies too if the humans carry out their plan!"

The serpent woman hissed something in a barely comprehensible tone. After a moment, Alex realised that she was offering to take care of the problem, and he shrank against Kulain in terror.

"I've always found Alex useful," the silver haired woman said softly. She smiled gently at him. All the demons turned respectfully to face her. "Welcome to the Ruling Council of demonkind, Alex."

Kulain wrapped an arm around his lover and Alex leaned against Kulain gratefully. The silver haired woman continued.

"They plan to release a virus against us. Without a sample, we have no defence at this time, but we can synthesise a cure within a day. Priority must be given to this. Kulain thinks that he knows who is responsible, we will give him three days to seek out the virus." She gave a bitter smile. "If you use this to seek more power for yourself, my son, you will be exiled. You have given your word to me. Obey my wishes!"

The other demons all hissed agreement. Alex shuddered. Kulain rose to his feet and smiled mockingly at his peers.

"As you wish!"

He led Alex away from the chamber, and back to their Tower quarters. Alex was silent all the way there. Then finally, he plucked up the courage to question his lover.

"Who are they? Fox never said anything about them."

"The Council. An ancient tradition among our kind. The thirteen most powerful demons. We generally fight against each other, or make alliances in our battles. But when there is a threat to us all, we act together. We make formidable enemies. Whoever chooses to challenge us will find that out!"

He hugged Alex.

" I've called in the most powerful allies on Earth. So you see, whichever group has Fox, they're in for a very nasty surprise!"

*How he was going to pay for that help was another matter.*

*********

Mulder stared sullenly at the double barrelled shotgun that was pointed at his chest through the bars in the door. Slowly he advanced towards the door. He was instructed to put both arms through the bars by the man, a camouflage wearing blonde man, and a second crew-cut man cuffed his hands together so that he was trapped by the bars. Only then did the shotgun waver from its aim. Mulder forced himself to glare at his captors, though he felt inwardly terrified. He didn't like to be at the mercy of anyone these days. Too many bad experiences. The blonde smirked, and grabbed Mulder's chin, staring at him in contempt. Mulder wrenched away, and in the moment while he was thus distracted, a hypodermic was jabbed into his arm and the plunger depressed. A clear brown liquid was pumped into his arm.

He gasped, and pulled his arm away, too late.

"Just a little vaccination against a useful virus we've developed, Mr. Mulder. Nothing to worry about!" The second man smiled in satisfaction. "It seems that your guardian angels have decreed that you should survive when we kill the rest of the demons.

And as the implications of that sank in, and Fox Mulder realised exactly what the Smoker was planning, he began to scream his denial, tugging at the bars in a vain effort to dislodge them, desperate to escape. Because they were planning to loose a plague on demonkind, and he would lose the only things that he cared about any more. Kulain, Alex, if he still lived, and yes, even Sean!

*********

*********

There is a valuable element within us that must be feared and treated with respect; we must exercise extreme care in dealing with it, lest it be the cause of countless evils.

Michel Foucault - The History of Sexuality

*********

Sean stared straight ahead, trying desperately to hold his concentration. Learning how to control that wayward part of his mind was surprisingly easy, once he had accepted the reality of his situation. That he wasn't going to get out of the underground facility until he actually learned some discipline. That much had been made clear to him at the start of his enforced stay. Amara was a tough teacher too. No drinking. Oh he had tried a couple of times. Then she had showed him a way to block the darkness out of his mind, and he found that he didn't need its oblivion any more. And there was always the humiliation of that smirking kid, who could far surpass him in any mental exercise. He sighed, and forced his wavering mind back on task.

//Slowly does it........ reach out........ touch.........BURN!!!//

The piece of wood he had been concentrating on abruptly burst into hot white flames. He grinned in satisfaction as it was reduced to a pile of ash. Then the kid gave a snort of amusement, and pointed a small finger at the ash. It swirled around in a tiny whirlwind, and light seemed to sparkle for a moment through the dust as it coalesced. She had made a small cube of wood again, with a molecular control he knew he would never be able to equal. Not in a million years.

He was beginning to understand their species more now. Exactly what Kulain was capable of, and how much power he could draw on. They could manipulate atoms and molecules so easily, and draw on the energy they released. And from what he had seen of some demons, they used that skill on themselves just as much. In fact they were obsessed with genetics.

Amara had been watching, and nodded in approval at both of her pupils. The human was proving to be surprisingly apt at learning to use his mind skills. Though there was still an occasional bad dream. She believed that Sean was sensitive enough to pick up clues from the minds around him, and had trained him to shield himself strongly. When it became an instinct, he would be ready to leave this place.

All three of them abruptly paused in their thoughts, and turned to the doorway, as an unmistakable presence entered. Sean's face lit up, and he ran forward and flung his arms around Kulain's neck, in a welcoming hug. His face had been seized between two large hands, and he had been thoroughly kissed. And afterwards, as he had leaned his head against Kulain's shoulder , never wanting to let go, he had heard the most welcoming words in the world.

"I need his help. I need him to come with me now!"

Amara had shaken her head doubtfully. "He's not ready yet......"

Kulain had looked down at his wayward human, at the blue eyes pleading mutely with him. Sean would be more than useful in the coming conflicts. Then he had smiled affectionately. "He'll do."

And so, Sean had found himself following Kulain out of that place, a little apprehensive, but keen to please his big lover.

*******

Mulder glared at his captors. So far, he had made their lives as difficult as possible. Even with a damned collar round his neck, he had behaved so aggressively towards them that none of them would enter his cell without training guns on him. As a consequence, his food and water rations had been cut for the last three days, and he was feeling light headed and lethargic. He was still strong, but it was increasingly hard to fight back, despite his demon strength.

His eyes blazed in hatred as the latest visitor entered his cell. Spender, the Smoker himself. Mulder's sensitive nostrils wrinkled at the lingering odour of smoke.

"I hear you're giving my men a hard time, Agent Mulder! I'm very disappointed that you couldn't be more co-operative. It would be easier on everyone, in the long run."

"Like hell I will!" Mulder snarled. "I'll never do anything for you. Except kill you!" He lunged forward, stretching out his hands to try and put the squeeze on the son of a bitches throat. Slow. Far too slow. The two crew cut guards were suddenly blocking the way, and a blow with the barrel of an Uzi made Mulder fall to the floor, gasping and clutching at the bloody gash on his forehead. The Smoker nudged his prisoner with a toe, and smiled coldly at the impotent glare he received.

"You'll be surprised how co-operative you become over the next few weeks, Fox. You'll see! In fact, you won't remember what you ever saw in Kulain and his friends......"

Mulder shook his head, and moaned softly at the dull throbbing that began there.

The three left the cell, and when he heard the clang of the door, he leaned his head back against the floor and closed his eyes. How long before they struck against the people he loved? And how could he get revenge against them if his lovers died. Preferably something spectacular and suicidal...... Lost in thought, he didn't hear the conversation outside his cell, which was probably just as well.

*********

Spender drew a long breath on his latest cigarette and thoughtfully gazed in the direction of Mulder's cell. One of the CIA's most infamous doctors joined him, for he had requisitioned the best people for this particular enterprise. The brainwashing of Fox Mulder would begin, and certain other experiments would also take place. And when they had solved the mysteries of what exactly made some humans attractive to demons, then they would be ready to release their virus. Even when the demons died, the legacy of their DNA would live on.

The doctor smiled at his new boss. "He's behaving exactly as we predicted. Hostile, paranoid and very aggressive. We've managed to observe enough of his behaviour to create a baseline to work from. We'll give him forty eight hours of sensory deprivation now, to further break down his resistance, then we'll be ready to start behaviour modification techniques."

"You really think you can be effective?" The Smoker was doubtful. The doctor's smile deepened.

"Oh, yes! The harder they fight, the faster they ultimately succumb. We always manage to break them in the end!" He sounded quite cheerful. "And when we've broken him, he'll give you whatever information you need to overcome Kulain voluntarily!"

The Smoker reflected with satisfaction that the rewards from his alien allies for removing such a potential threat as the demons would surely outweigh the risks. For Kulain's kin were certainly too powerful to ignore. Especially since the little demonstration of their destructive power at New York.

And as an added benefit, Mulder would provide them with the genetic material they needed for study purposes.

*********

Alex studied Sean from beneath long lashed green eyes, and wondered for the millionth time why Kulain needed the other man's help so badly. But he had to admit that with those devastating blue eyes and the ready smile, the youngest of Kulain's mates made an attractive sight. Alex hadn't quite realised, during his own time of troubles, quite how good looking the Englishman was. Perhaps it was the effect of the alcohol that had previously dulled his senses, but he couldn't believe that he had never noticed Sean in a sexual way before. There was something about the younger man's fresh scent that seemed to draw his thoughts, unbidden, to images of writhing bodies and tangled limbs.

He growled softly, deep in his throat. He felt the predator stir within him. Mulder had never spoken of their precise relationship, but he had seemed close to the bodyguard. Alex couldn't help but wonder...... Had the three of them.......?

Alex hadn't intended to watch when Kulain had first returned with Sean. But the two were beautiful together, two dark haired forms closing for a passionate kiss....

Kulain didn't bother to hide his attraction to Sean, touching and caressing him in front of Alex. To see the green eyed demon acting so sensually, licking and gently biting the soft skin of Sean's neck, working his way down...... Openly sucking on his other mate's small, erect nipples. Dropping to his knees before Sean and ripping open the thin shirt he wore, plunging his tongue into the human's belly button, then inching his way down. Grasping firm buttocks and pulling the other's body closer to his demanding mouth. It was when Kulain started to open Sean's pants and started going down on him that they started to head towards the bedroom, not entirely without interruptions........ The last sight Alex had was of Kulain reducing Sean to whimpers, the younger man so hungry for the demon's touch that he became instantly compliant to whatever Kulain wanted. It was one of the most erotic things Alex could remember seeing.

The two had reluctantly, he sensed, taken their lovemaking out of his sight. Eventually. Leaving Alex so hot and aching that he had been forced to find his own lonely release.

He felt his longing for Fox even more keenly.

The search for his lover had been going on for what seemed like weeks, but was in reality, only a few days. Demonkind were united in their desire to find some trace of the Smoking man's hideout, his militia associates and Fox, so Alex knew the country was being scoured by those twelve demons he had seen at the meeting. It would inevitably take time. Time that they didn't have. Time for the virus to be positioned and released against them..........

Alex didn't want to die. He needed to feel the surge of life within his body. Perhaps Kulain would have time for him later.....?

So he waited in lonely isolation. And tried to ignore Sean's moans that his too sharp senses could detect once again from Kulain's bed. And the heady aroma of sex that his senses also perceived. One thing about Kulain, once was never enough for him!

********

Mulder didn't know how long he had been in this white hell. He had been placed in a padded cell, his body wrapped in a straitjacket, still damnably collared. The small room was totally silent, leached of all colour and texture, utterly without windows or obvious doors. A tiny camera in one corner relayed pictures of the cell's occupant to his captors.

Mulder had screamed and raged at them for hours, struggling desperately with his restraints, unable to free himself. Finally, reluctantly, he had sank into an exhausted stupor, and had tried to sleep.

It was too cold in the small cell. Though he tried, he kept waking up, shivering, needing to move to keep himself warm. Of course he shouted threats at them. Uselessly. He was never able to see his captors.

It seemed to go on forever.

In reality, it was two days.

Sometimes, he would shout just to hear the sound of his own voice.

It was so damn quiet he thought he was going to go mad with boredom.

And gradually, as hunger and thirst began to take their toll, he grew weaker and less aggressive, just trying to endure the silent, peaceful torment of the place. He would never know how long the sensory deprivation went on. Oh yes, he recognised the technique. Standard CIA brainwashing technique, he'd heard. Combined with sleep deprivation and physical hunger. Soon, when they judged him sufficiently weakened by the procedure, they would begin stage two.....

It was becoming harder and harder to think coherently.

It started gradually, so softly that he didn't at first, notice it. A low humming that resonated in his bones, at the edge of perception, at a pitch designed to irritate human hearing almost to pain. He shook his head, trying to clear it. Tried to press one ear against the wall or floor to block out the sound.

Uselessly.

If Mulder had been able to use his hands, he would have clawed at the floor or even his own body, trying to distract himself from that sound. For a while, he tried slamming his body against the too well padded walls. He was too weak to do that for long.

After a while he began screaming.

Some time later, the screams had become whimpers.

Then there was silence.

The hum went on, a throbbing mechanical sound, on and on and on and on and on.....

And afterwards, in the silence that followed, when the voice softly began whispering things to him, he listened.

*********

Sean felt good. Last night had been one of the more spectacular night of his life. He couldn't believe how many times Kulain had shown his appreciation of his lover's fit body. Enough to make Sean feel pleasantly sore this morning. And just a little in awe of his demon lover. Sean hadn't been in control at all last night, and he had loved every second of it. And now, he found himself ravenously hungry, ready to tear up and eat a cow with his bare hands, if he didn't get some protein in his belly right now!

Hot and rare, flash-burned steak for breakfast? ........er........ Dinner......! Well maybe they had stayed a long time in bed. He grinned at the memory. He didn't exactly remember the coming of dawn, he had been too busy.....

Alex was lounging in the kitchen, drinking a cup of fresh coffee, and looking far from the frightened man Sean remembered from his last few nights in the Tower, before Amara had taken him under her protection. It had only been a short time, but there was an air of the predator once more about Alex. A new determination to find Mulder, now that he wasn't distracted by foolish fears of Kulain. Sean contemplated his lover as he prepared his meal. Sean guessed that Kulain had worked his own particular charms on the green eyed man, and Kulain at his most determined wasn't easy to resist.

Not that you wanted to fight off those strong arms or that incredible.........

"Were we lovers before I was hurt? I'm sorry. I don't remember...."

His thoughts were shattered by the softly spoken question that Alex posed. All the more shocking for Sean because of its unexpectedness. Alex tilted his head to one side, unconsciously erotic, an expression of curiosity on his face. And something else Sean recognised only too well, because he felt it so often himself.

Loneliness.

The surge of it inside him. The wash of heat and longing and pain that he had forgotten about for a short time last night. The feeling he got when he watched Alex curled up with Fox, watching the t.v. or holding hands. The madness that made him raise his eyes to those so green orbs and grin at Alex.

"Oh yes!" he lied.

Alex smiled shyly, and slowly Sean raised his fork, offering Alex food. And by unspoken agreement, something else as well. The green eyes flashed, and Alex slowly leaned forward, his lips closing around the choice morsel he was offered. Drawing his mouth slowly along the utensil with deliberate sensuality. Sean found himself transfixed by the small smear of slick moisture left on Alex's lower lip. Before he could stop himself, he leaned forward and licked it off. Then Alex's mouth was parting beneath his own, and they were kissing. Sean felt Alex's hands reach up to pull him closer. He found that he was, surprisingly after last night, ready to respond to Alex's advances. And a tiny trickle of need inside Sean became a raging hunger.

For Alex it was the culmination of a night and day of imagining Sean's limbs parting in welcome, strong limbs entwined around him. The firmness of the smooth chest beneath his fingers. The lingering trace of Kulain's presence against the younger man's skin. Warmth of body against willing body.

Wanting to feel the touch of another soul.

Sean would never remember the transition between sitting at the kitchen table, and lying on his back on the floor, a green eyed predator between his wide spread legs, hungrily ripping at his clothes, biting and clawing and kissing indiscriminately. Alex needed this as much as Sean did. Needed something more human to hold on to. Something Kulain couldn't give.

The two of them frantically pulling off the last of their clothes. Alex grinned wickedly, in that moment seeming more supernatural creature than vulnerable human. Sean no longer knew or cared which one Alex Krycek was. This fire between them was all that mattered.

For Alex it was a release from all the tensions that held him prisoner. The worries about Fox, the fears and demon haunted dreams, the sense of loss he felt whenever he tried to remember his past. He needed this wildness. The free sensuality that had been a part of him for so long, that had been his strength since New York.

His lips descended in an aggressive kiss, claiming the mouth of the man that lay sprawled beneath him, rubbing like a cat against that undeniably attractive body. Then irresistibly, his hand seized Sean's already upraised cock, clamping down strongly and wringing a yell of warning from his younger lover. Alex didn't want to be gentle tonight.

There was something else he wanted instead. A white hot fire sliding inside him, wiping away all doubt and fear.

He pressed two fingers against Sean's kiss reddened mouth and forced him to suck on them. Sean looked glad to oblige. Alex was in control, and the younger man was happy for the situation to continue. Alex licked Sean's nipples, and teasingly nipped at them, making his partner yelp. He was almost certain that he could taste where Kulain had been before him.

Deciding that he wanted Sean to participate more, he grabbed at the other man's hands and pressed them against his own chest.

"Touch me!" he groaned.

Sean ran his fingers slowly across the other's torso, tracing the powerful muscles that marked Alex as a predatory creature rather than a sedentary human. The powerful shoulders, the strong pectorals. He tried to draw Alex down on top of him, wanting them to rub against each other, but Alex was having none of it. Instead he grasped his prominent erection in his hand and began sliding his hand across it, teasing Sean, pumping himself in one strong fist. Sean was momentarily transfixed by the jerking movements that the reddened head of Alex's penis made, the small pearly droplets that gathered there. He whimpered and tried to raise his hips, to make his own erection come into contact with the body that sat astride him. Powerful thighs clamped down on him, holding him in place effortlessly. Sean moaned and twisted his head from side to side as the heat inside him could find no outlet. He needed to come, and the sight of Alex Krycek at that moment was more than he could bear.

The traces of humanity Alex possessed were at the moment submerged by that sensual creature that Kulain had created. Alex the predator grinned again, and his other, slickened hand rubbed Sean's cock teasingly, making the younger man buck again, hopelessly. Then Sean saw what Alex was doing, what he intended. He closed his eyes to block out the sight. If he had to watch Alex preparing himself, he was going to come in an instant. For Alex was sliding those wet fingers slowly in and out of himself, moaning slightly, as he widened himself in readiness. Each time his slickened fingers worked their way inside him, Alex would give out a little whimper as his digits brushed the erogenous zones inside him. Then he would part his fingers a little to widen his tight opening, and moan softly. It wasn't just that, it was also the way that his head was flung back in delectation, and his eyes were closed. And the way he was biting his lower lip slightly as he stimulated himself.

Sean had never seen anything so beautiful. No wonder Kulain and Fox were so enamoured of this man. Sean felt a pang of guilt and for a moment, only the smallest fraction of a second, admittedly, he was about to call a halt to the proceedings. Then his thoughts disintegrated as Alex positioned himself, and lowered himself on his lover's erection. Green eyes opened wide as it slid inside him, and the two of them stared at each other. For Sean it was like looking at a wild animal he had captured, so wild and free.....

Sean had little experience of this. Of taking another man. It always seemed that his lovers were eager to take him, to slide inside him and generate incredible sensations. But this was even better. He liked it from the first moment that Alex drew him in.

Alex began to move. Not really trying to make Sean come, though it was almost more than the younger man could bear, trying to stay in control. No. Alex was a voluptuous creature, moving in his own rhythms, acting for his own pleasure. Slow sliding movements, a little twist of the hips, thighs still clamping around Sean. The younger man reached to touch Alex's cock, wanting to hold onto him, but a snarl of warning made him subside. No humanity there now.

Sean could only lay back, let Alex do what he wanted. Not such a bad idea, if he could only manage to hold on. The sensations were incredible. And watching Alex as he moved was guaranteed to raise the temperature a few degrees. The older man was starting to lose control, his body movements becoming jerky and uncoordinated. Then Alex's body was arching backwards and he screamed wildly. His come sprayed out in uncontrollable spurts across Sean's belly and chest. Powerful internal muscles clamped down on the younger man's own erection and then Sean was screaming Alex's name as he jetted into the other's body.

Momentarily, Alex sagged against Sean, his body bathed with perspiration, his eyes dull with fatigue. Then a cloud seemed to pass across the handsome face, and he pulled away, a sudden guilt and confusion in his eyes. As if he could sense something was amiss, and as if he had betrayed Fox by forgetting his lover's plight for even that short time. Without looking back at the sprawled figure of Sean on the floor or speaking, Alex rose with boneless grace, and headed for the shower.

Sean closed his eyes, not moving for the moment. He was beginning to realise what exactly he had just done. He had taken advantage of Alex's weakness, and betrayed his friend. Now what? Well, cleaning himself would be a start. He opened his eyes again, and stared in shock at Kulain, who was leaning against the wall watching him. The demon had silently entered the room, and with his arms folded, appeared oddly like a human parent looking at a wayward offspring.

Kulain knew of course. His superb senses would have told him the moment the two of them had begun to have sex. He would hear it and smell it, and for all Sean knew, taste it in the air. The demon was frowning, and he opened his mouth to speak.

"Don't say anything!" Sean said, perhaps more sharply than he had intended. "I know how much trouble I'm in!"

The demon considered for a moment, then shrugged. It was after all, Sean's life.

"He's just so beautiful........" Sean whispered.

//Kulain mused that at least Alex was being kept occupied now, as he had predicted. If anything were to happen to Fox, he would have a source of support. For Kulain knew from the latest reports that those who hunted for Fox had no success. Baring a miracle, the future looked bleak.//

********** **********

Fox Mulder sat facing his captor, placid and unmoving. The eminent doctor who had perfected this particular method of brainwashing was very pleased with his subject's progress. He had been watching Mulder for some time and was pleased to note a lack of restless or fidgeting movements from the younger man. A good sign, since it meant that his subject's brain was not actively thinking for itself. The aim was, after all, to create a blank slate, for them to write new instructions on. Mulder was of course drugged, with some of the new chemicals that Spender had sworn were effective against the demon tainted.

There was one last stage of the process to complete, and here Spender's scientists had been very helpful, with their extensive virtual reality labs. A video had been created that would test exactly how much progress Mulder had made. And it would finally break whatever spirit was left in Mulder. He smiled and switched it on.

Mulder stared passively at the screen as the pictures began. The doctor was watching his reactions closely, and didn't fail to miss the tiny widening of the eyes as Alex Krycek's face appeared on the screen. So Mulder still felt something. That would change!

// The image on the screen panned out, giving a wider shot. Alex was being led away from the pier by two police officers. As the camera recorded the scene, he broke away from their custody and began to flee away from them. He stumbled and fell to his knees. And as he rose, the combined forces of the police officers on the scene opened fire on him. Alex Krycek's bullet riddled body fell to the decking, and blood began to pool around him as his life ebbed away.//

The doctor watched Mulder's reactions avidly.

Mulder's face had blanched as Alex was shot, and a tear ran unheeded down the side of his face. He shook his head in denial. The doctor frowned. Apparently, a further treatment would be necessary if Mulder still could feel pain at the sight. He signalled to his militia guards. Fox would be subjected to another twelve hours of the sound treatment, then.......

//The camera on the video footage moved in for a close up of Alex's face, a masterpiece of image manipulation. Alex's face was almost peaceful in death, if you ignored the prominently displayed bullet hole in the young man's forehead, and the wide open eyes staring hopelessly ahead......//

The doctor heard Mulder make a choked noise and turned to look at him.

********

It was hard to think. It had been hard to think for so long. Thinking brought with it the memory of pain and an unendurable loss. He did what they told him for it was easier than having to reason for himself. A voice in his mind kept whispering at him to hold on, everything was going to be alright. They would find him. But other voices were clamouring to be heard, filled with the words of his captors. He felt stirrings of hate within him, but he was unable to respond to the feelings, his body felt so slow and weak, these days, filled with their drugs.

They brought him before the architect of his troubles and sat him down in front of a screen, and showed him hell.

With the first scenes from the video, all of his pain came back. The memories they had tried to wash away were still there.

Alex! Staring into the camera lens like the lost soul he was lately, beautiful eyes filled with anguish. And then the torment. Alex fleeing in terror. Alex falling, trying like a wild beast to escape them. And then the final terrible scenes when he saw his love shot down. The last movement Alex made was a vain reaching out of his hand as if to clutch at Mulder, through the camera lens.

The doctor looked angry that Mulder could still remember and respond to the sight of his lover, though Mulder barely heard his orders about *more treatment*. His eyes were transfixed by the pictures on the screen, even as they began to lead him away. Did they think he would ever forget the other half of his soul?

The camera zeroed in on the dead face of his love.

Something broke inside his mind with an almost audible crack. Some hidden dam behind which lurked all of the things about his demon self he had tried to deny. He no longer had a reason to hold the darkness in so he welcomed it with open arms. Its power flooded into his mind like a wave of black fire, and a part of him that was still human began to understand what Kulain was, what he had become.

He didn't feel the collar he wore snap in two as it was overloaded by the power in his mind.

He didn't hear himself cry out as his body changed, becoming *other,* becoming demon again. All he knew or felt was the sweet feel of the doctor's neck as it snapped beneath his hands. And as he followed the body to the floor and began to use his claws to teach the dead man a lesson, he didn't see the terror on the guards' faces. Several shots were directed at him, and he wasn't aware of their bullets, except as a minor irritation against his skin. The bullets had merely bounced off tough demon skin.

The darkness inside him demanded to be fed with blood.

********* *********

Sean jerked his head up as the blast of power swept past him. He saw Kulain flinch visibly, and suddenly the demon's eyes were filled with a darkness born of rage and a need for revenge against the ones who had taken away what was his, and threatened his kind. Sean heard himself whimper in fear. But the demon merely turned his glowing gaze towards Sean and spoke.

"Get some clothes on, be ready quickly. And get Alex!"

Sean nodded. He knew who he had sensed. Fox. But how had the other man been able to generate such a raw burst of psychic energy? And why had he felt such a darkness in that mental touch? He would have to figure it out later. Right now, he had to prepare himself. Already he could sense the minds of many powerful demons gathering around Kulain, and he knew that there would soon be a reckoning with the humans who sought to destroy demonkind. He shivered instinctively, though he would not be on the receiving end of their wrath.

Alex emerged from his shower, looking startled, when Sean burst in on him. It just took one word to make the young man drop everything and dive for his clothes, unheeding of his body's delightfully wet condition.

"Fox!!!"

*********

The gate fire cast its shimmering glow across half a hundred snarling, terrible faces. Alex didn't even notice his curious colleagues. He had only one thing on his mind, rescuing his lover. Sean was close by his side, though he seemed nervous of their demon kin. Alex didn't care. If they would help him get back his Fox, he would have sold himself to all of them in turn. Kulain led them, his eyes glowing eerily in the dark. Their priority was the virus that their enemies had created, and Alex understood that. They would all die if it was released. But he knew what he wanted more than life itself, and nothing was going to stand in his way. He was unconscious of the way his own eyes glowed a luminous green, or the way his talons curled and uncurled, longing for the plunge into soft enemy flesh.

Then the fire swept over them, and they were *elsewhere* in a heartbeat. A scientific base of some sort, high in the mountains, with a large contingent of right wing militia guards. Who opened fire indiscriminately in their terror, as the demons bore down upon them.

*********

Sean followed close behind Alex, who was lashing out savagely at any human who got in his way, moving so very fast that it was hard to keep up with him. The desperate man plunged into the nearest building, and began running through a series of apparently endless corridors, looking for Mulder. Several times he decimated the opposition, with far faster than human reflexes, and once Sean killed a guard before he could plunge a knife into Alex's back. And finally, they came to what appeared to be the holding area for prisoners. There were signs that a struggle had already taken place there. Bullet holes peppered the walls, and blood smeared the floor.

Alex froze, looking round him in a lost sort of way, and gazed in wretched entreaty at Sean.

"Help me find him!" he said desperately.

Room by room, the two of them began to search the place.

It didn't take as long as Sean expected. He could feel a stirring in his mind as they got closer to the place where Mulder was, a roiling king of shadow inside his mind, the sign of a mind stressed to its limits. Then they came to a half open office door, behind which could be heard strange noises.

Sean stepped inside first. He gasped, and had to jam his hand in his mouth to stop himself from crying out.

Mulder was sitting on the floor, next to a mangled body that looked like it had been shredded almost beyond recognition by claws. Mulder's claws. The older man was muttering to himself and shaking his head, and he was soaked liberally by blood which had obviously come from the corpse. His hands were covered in it, and his face and body heavily splattered. Obviously, there had been enough life left in the body when he had attacked it for the blood to come spraying out in a fan across his upper body.

He lifted his head when he heard them, and cried out in disbelief when he saw Alex.

"You're dead! I saw you die....." His head dropped pathetically and he began to cry, great wracking sobs that shook his whole body. And regardless of the blood, Alex sank down next to his love and gathered Mulder into his arms and rocked him back and forth.

"I'm here. I'm here" Repeating it over and over again like a litany to soothe the sobbing man, no longer demon, as he clutched at Alex, disbelieving.

*********

Mulder remembered little of the return journey to the tower, or of the hordes of demons that milled around the site, searching for something. There was only the incredibly good feeling of Alex's arms around him, the murmuring of his voice, and the gentle stroking of his hair. He had a vague recollection of Sean talking to Kulain and the look of concern on their faces. But it didn't matter. Alex was what mattered.

"Not dead..... NOT dead..... Not dead....."

He kept repeating it to himself so he wouldn't lose himself in the darkness again. And he knew Alex wouldn't let him fall. He revived briefly when Alex undressed him and he was being pushed under a hot, welcome shower, the caked blood and filth being gently cleaned from his hands and body. Then he was carefully dried and led to the bedroom. Then he was drawn down onto the bed and wrapped in strong arms. The tears came briefly again. A voice whispered reassurance.

"You're safe my love.... Sleep!" A kiss brushed against his forehead.

He did.

******* *******

It had been a week since the raid on the militia headquarters and Sean was only just coming to terms with what had happened. The deaths, the destruction of the virus, and the political capital Kulain was making out of the right wing plots.

He and Alex had killed more than once. He didn't regret his actions, though he had a strong sense of justice, but Fox.....

Normality was almost more than Mulder could cope with. When he had come out of his shock, he was still in his right mind, only just. But the way he had killed the doctor plainly ate away at his conscience. He had ripped apart another human being with his bare hands, and savoured it, gloried in it even. He looked haunted, but he was slowly coming to terms with his dark side. What other choice did he have?

Alex had been his strength throughout, fiercely protective, even to the point of shouting at Kulain, a point which had left Mulder gaping incredulously at his younger lover.

Yes, a lot had changed since Mulder's incarceration. Like this morning for instance.....

Mulder had been curled up intimately next to Alex on a comfortable couch when Sean walked in on them. It must have been a good day for Mulder because Alex was smiling and light hearted. He had grinned flirtatiously, and had beckoned to Sean to join the two of them. Fox had looked startled.

"Why not?" Alex had said innocently, "he's our lover, isn't he?"

Sean had made himself scarce before the inevitable explosion. He shamelessly hid in Kulain's room, surprising the sleepy demon. He hissed at Kulain to keep him silent, but the curious demon had risen and strolled over to him. Sean found himself grinning hugely at Kulain when he heard Mulder yelling his name furiously, shouting threats and promising retribution. It sounded as though Fox Mulder was well on the way back to fitness and normality. Kulain tilted Sean's head upwards so the young man had to look into his eyes.

Kulain shook his head with a sigh, though a trace of laughter showed perhaps, as a glint in his eyes.

"Why did I have to choose three humans?" he said in amusement. "I'll know not to be so greedy next time........"

********

The British scientist frowned as he surveyed the collection of DNA samples that the Smoker had brought to him. It was only luck that the old man had been away from his main facility when disaster had struck. And now this was all he had left. The American government was displeased with him in the extreme, so he had chosen to visit his foreign allies for a while.

A pity it had been necessary to leave the dear Teena Mulder to her son's tender mercies. It was her idea to have Fox brainwashed in the first place.

The British scientist was now in possession of the only samples he had left. DNA of *all* the humans who had been infected by Kulain. All others had been destroyed. They would now be studied extensively, in the world's best laboratories, to try and unlock their secrets. And if possible, duplicate them.

He could still make this into a victory.

 

* * *

 

Dark Angel's Fire XII - Mindgames  
by Megaera  
August 1999

E-MAIL FEEDBACK is life  
DISTRIBUTION Any time any place anywhere  
RATING NC-17 SLASH  
CONTENT WARNING m/m sex, violence, death.  
CATEGORY M/K/Other, Ricky Caruso/Other  
SPOILERS None  
SUMMARY Mulder goes back to work on an x file. Kulain has fun.  
DISCLAIMER All X Files Characters belong to Chris Carter and Fox, I've just borrowed them for a while. I am not making any profit out of this, it's just for entertainment. The character of Kulain is mine but you can use him if you like, Mr. Carter  
COMMENTS This story is set in an Alternate Universe where demons can interact more freely with humans and can shapeshift. If you don't like my laws of physics, go find your own.  
THANKS to Czara as always for the beta reading and the encouragement, and Rowanne for the home on Terma

* * *

Dark Angel's Fire XII  
Mindgames  
by Megaera

*********

Dreams of war, dreams of liars, dreams of dragon's fire and of things that will bite.  
Sleep with one eye open, gripping your pillow tight.  
Exit light: enter night.  
Take my hand, we're off to Never Never Land.......

Metallica - lyrics to Enter Sandman

*********

It was supposed to be a joke. That was the worst part. Catch a couple of beers with the guys and have a laugh, scare the girls a little and reap the benefits later, when you could get an arm round your date and hold her close. Offer a little comfort and security, play the macho hero. Who it was that got the idea he would never know. Later on he would recognise it as one of the craziest things he had ever done. But at the time it made sense. Perhaps it was a trick from the start, something put into their heads by the evil buried in the old graveyard.

Carl was the one who brought the spade, and who laughingly began to strip the turf off the top of the ancient grave. They had all known the legend from the earliest stories whispered in childhood.

//That's where the sorcerer is buried! Three hundred years ago he committed his vile crimes, and held the settlement of Prospect in thrall to his evil. Until the city fathers of the time had banded together and put an end to the terror, at the cost of over twenty lives it was said.//

And it was Carl's idea too, to dig the old bastard up and take a few souvenirs. Maybe even hold a seance tomorrow with the skull placed strategically on a nearby gravestone. Mandy would be so terrified that he was sure he could talk his way into spending the night with her. Just in case the sorcerer came looking for his missing body parts, someone would have to protect her.....

The first problem came when they broke through the outer wood of the coffin, after a frustratingly long time digging in the tough clay. The corpse wasn't exactly skeletized. Maybe liquescent would be a better description. Still substantially fleshed after three hundred years, and boy was this corpse *ugly* And the smell.......

"Get the fucking head, Will, and let's get outta here." Carl aimed the spade at the rotting neck, intending to decapitate the corpse by cutting through the tendons that still attached it to the body. It was then that things started to get weird. A phosphorescent glow sprang up around the corpse, and one baleful eye swivelled in its socket, fixing its gaze on Carl. The other eye had long since fallen out of its resting place and was a jelly like mass on the half worm eaten cheek, its socket swimming with yellow ooze. Then impossibly strong fingers moved, even as Carl stood frozen next to the body. The corpse caught hold of the luckless grave robber and with incredible strength, ripped Carl's throat open. The other two young men had long since fled. So they didn't see the sorcerer's skin and muscle regenerating where his body was splashed with blood. Nor did they see the eager way it smeared more of the hot redness across face and hands.

The face that finally lifted to the night sky and uttered a howl of triumph was substantially human, if a little pale. The sorcerer would need more blood before he would be able to pass for human. But *this* was a start. And the sounds of frantic retreat across the graveyard told him where more could be found.

And then Prospect would pay!

*********

Kulain leaned back languorously on the bed. It had taken a little planning on his part, and the merest hint of pheromones, silently trickling from the pores of his human seeming skin. A trail of them in fact, leading here, to this place, his inner sanctuary, the heart of his tower. He stretched out on the lush silken covers overlaying his bed and waited patiently for his plan to be fulfilled. He had learned the value of such tactics in his recent dealings with Alex. A sweet set-up. The apparently distracted way he had moved past Alex and Fox, heading towards his hideaway, trailing his scent in the air behind him, deliberately teasing it past their senses. Both were unaware of their own responses. First Alex's nostrils had dilated a fraction, then his Fox. Alex had sighed softly, his hand tracing across his mouth in an unconsciously sensual gesture as he suckled lightly on the tip of his index finger. Mulder had stretched his body, catlike, and his nipples had begun to press in erect points through the thin shirt he wore. Mulder smoothed his hand across his chest, fingering one and had sighed.

Kulain had made sure to include Sean this time, not that it took as great a stimulus to wake the sexuality of his newest conquest. Just a trace of pheromones had been enough to make blue eyes glaze over, and pupils dilate widely. Sean had gently bitten at his lips, reddening them in an ancient signal of sexual readiness.

Kulain was planning an evening of fun. Not entirely ethical, to be sure, but he was feeling particularly in need of satisfaction tonight, and three willing partners would be very welcome. And it would not be at all difficult for him to satisfy them. He rarely felt the call of the blood these days. His aggressive impulses were all but subsumed by his constant supply of sexual partners. And yet tonight, he wanted, no, *needed* all of them to quench the heat within him. The thought alone made him hard and ready for them.

Sean was predictably the first. Alex and Fox had been ignoring him lately, ever since he had taken advantage of Alex's memory problems to satisfy his own needs. Alex predictably reacted in accordance with Fox's wishes and stayed away from the younger man. Sean was lonelier than he liked to admit, though no longer the totally defenceless victim of his own mind. Kulain watched as the young bodyguard slipped through the half open door, pulling his clothes off as he came, breathing hard, unaware that the acceleration of his metabolism was being caused deliberately by his lover. And that his breath carried more arousing chemicals into his brain with every gasp. Wordlessly, Sean sank onto the bed next to Kulain and bowed his dark head to satisfy the immediate problem that reared in Kulain's lap. The demon watched with amusement, as the lush lips parted and the rosy mouth began to minister to him. Exquisite.

He sensed movement at the door, and watched in satisfaction as Alex approached, face flushed with excitement. His first action was to scramble on his hands and knees across the top of the large bed and begin to irresistibly lick the demon's skin. He was particularly attentive to Kulain's own nipples, unaware that he was craving the taste of those devastatingly effective pheromones. Production of those chemicals, after all, was centred on Kulain's erogenous zones. Alex too, had shed his clothing as the chemical action on his brain had made him seem far too hot for comfort.

The action of two mouths across his body was exceptionally pleasant.

His Fox was the last to respond to his call. He stood for a long while at the doorway, his eyes puzzled, as if he couldn't quite comprehend why he was doing this. Then the call of his blood became overwhelming, and he strode forward, flinging himself down next to Kulain and enthusiastically beginning to kiss his lover's mouth.

Kulain had always desired the three of them together. Now they were ready, and if not totally comfortable with each other, at least they were all familiar with each other's bodies and would suffer no trauma from his manipulation of their minds and bodies.

He concentrated on their kisses for a while, then encouraged Sean to mount him. And Alex to suck on Sean. Mulder whimpered in frustration, rubbing his hardness against Kulain, until Alex fastened green eyes on him, though he never left off from his enthusiastic suckling.

Tonight was going to be exceptional!

*********

Mulder woke with a groan. He tried unsuccessfully to remember where he was, and what he had been doing last night. From the pleasant ache in his balls and ass, he had obviously spent the night in wild, utterly satisfying passion. He could feel a warmth beneath his head, fingers laced with his, and a body half draped across his back as he lay face down on the bed. He cracked one eyelid open cautiously, and found that the hand entwined with his was Alex's, as was the dark haired head close to his. The powerfully muscled torso that warmed his cheek had to be Kulain. Then who.....? He pushed carefully at the form, and heard it mumble something sleepily with an English accent.

What the hell had they got up to last night. He groaned. He was beginning to remember falling asleep like this after being fucked all but senseless by......... Sean! And the look of adoration he remembered in the blue eyes left no doubt as to what Sean felt. Mulder wondered how he had so misread the signs. Sean was hopelessly in love with him! Perhaps even with all of them? He closed his eyes again, silently wishing for the dream to go away. Unfortunately it was reality. A second vague recollection of being sucked by Sean as Alex took the younger man *very* enthusiastically. And a number of other combinations.....

And always Kulain had been at the heart of it, controlling, taking, caressing, licking, biting........

Reality wasn't going to go away. With a sigh, he pushed the still sleeping bodyguard away and sat up gingerly. The Englishman sighed, and shifted so that he was curled into the side of Kulain again, close to the demon's warmth. Mulder was stiff and aching a little.

Kulain was awake. And watching him with a look of definite amusement.

Momentarily, Mulder blushed. His gaze dropped, uncertain, then he finally found the courage to meet those too-penetrating green eyes. He couldn't exactly pretend to hate Sean any more. Not after last night. In fact the whole experience had been *so* good. The things he remembered...... His cock was making its appreciation felt, and slowly rose to attention. Kulain's smile deepened, and he loosened one arm from where it was curled around Alex, and reached down to grasp his own burgeoning erection. They had yet to exchange a word, but Fox Mulder knew exactly what his lover wanted.

Minutes later, impaled and moving his body slowly as he rode up and down on his demon lover's swollen member, making small noises of pleasure, Mulder didn't give a damn about his previous hesitations. This was too good, too addictive, in the end, too satisfying. His movements became frantic and he sobbed with satisfaction as the heat exploded out of him, carrying him away on waves of ecstasy, even as Kulain matched him and spurted deep inside him. How the hell did the demon always manage to keep pace with him? To match his needs so precisely?

Mulder sank back, shaking in aftermath, the fire inside him slowly stilling, and closed his eyes. Kulain's cock was still inside him, not yet soft, oddly comforting. He finally opened his eyes as he sensed movement, and gasped. Sean and Alex were awake, and busily licking what remained of his seed from Kulain's belly. And the demon was watching them all in satisfaction. The sight of the two dark heads busily working sent a renewed jolt through Mulder's body, and he found himself hypnotically watching the active movements of their tongues. He knew then that this was going to be one of those days when he would find it impossible to get out of bed........

***********

Alex was wearing only a smile and a small towel when he came out of the bathroom a few hours later. Mulder sighed tiredly, and reluctantly averted his eyes from the lithe form of his beautiful mate. He doubted whether he could raise one finger at the moment, let alone give that incredible body the attention it deserved. Demon blood or not. Alex predictably, was almost purring with satisfaction, and seemed not at all fatigued by four solid hours of sex, and that after a hectic night. Sean, on the other hand, was so exhausted that he hadn't moved an inch from his sprawling sleep on Kulain's bed. And Kulain had disappeared, which was probably just as well.

The insistent sounds of his cell phone broke into his thoughts. With a heavy sigh, he answered the call. And blinked in surprise as he heard the anxious voice at the other end of the phone.

********

"So what does Kowalski want?" Alex asked, as he and Mulder passed through the big glass doors that led into the Hoover building. Though he didn't remember much about his time at the F.B.I., Alex had heard a lot of his lover's stories about the X files, and he was burning with curiosity.

"He said he had an X file that he wanted me to look at." Mulder couldn't quite pretend disinterest. He had been too long out of the loop, and the prospect of a case to interest him was all but irresistible. Kowalski knew him well enough by now to predict that this case would arouse Mulder's curiosity.

It was the first time that Fox Mulder had been back in the F.B.I. building in Washington since his very public affair with Kulain had caused his suspension. He faced the memories of happier times with stoicism. He had no time to waste on tormenting himself with useless dreams of the past. And he still had a few friends left in the Bureau. Like Kowalski, who had been given the unenviable task of taking over the X files in Mulder's absence.

What he hadn't expected were the openly curious glances of agents and co-workers in his direction. Living with Kulain, being in his company so much, Mulder was shielded from the reactions of most ordinary Americans to his situation. No-one dared provoke Kulain with openly hostile behaviour. But today, the resentment in many faces surprised him.

Alex too was attracting attention, though not of the same kind. Rumours were rife in Washington law enforcement circles that Alex Krycek had been turned into a brain damaged moron by some kind of accident. And Mulder found himself glad that Alex could show them how wrong they were.

He was unconscious of the beauty and grace that surrounded the two of them. Before, they had drawn many an admiring gaze. But now it was obvious to all but the most unimaginative of watchers that neither of them was completely human. No human had ever possessed that ethereal poise and self control, or that hint of *otherness* that neither of them could conceal any more. A suggestion of predator, of dangerous untamed beauty. Most of the men in the place felt inadequate in comparison, and the women felt an envy of Kulain.

Kowalski, of course , just gave a grin in welcome, as he met his two guests and escorted them down to the same old basement office.

**********

Mulder shook his head in puzzlement as he reviewed the details of this latest case file. Set in the little city of Prospect, a place founded in the seventeenth century by Puritans. It had been surprisingly easy to slip into his old role, lounge back in the familiar chair, with Alex perched on the chair arm next to him, a familiar pressure against his side as the younger man read over his shoulder. It made grisly reading, comparable to the worst excesses of the demons. A group of young men butchered in a graveyard where they had been drinking. And insufficient blood at the scene, despite the horrific injuries that had been inflicted on the corpses. Oddest of all, it seemed that the victims had interrupted a grave robbing, because an open grave was found in the vicinity, minus its long dead occupant.

"Why exactly do you need us?" Mulder puzzled. Kowalski was more than capable of handling either grave robbing or murder without help.

The middle aged cop tossed a new folder onto the pile of crime scene photos, in response. Alex hissed when he saw the contents, and Mulder swallowed as bile rose to the back of his throat.

"That came in this morning, just before I called you!" Kowalski said. He indicated the new picture. This body had been shredded as if it had travelled through machinery, muscle and bone torn apart by some immense force. "The victim is none other than the morgue attendant who was in charge of the first three bodies. And now they're missing too. Why the hell, if you'll pardon the expression, would any normal person want three bodies in moderately poor condition? And why take the risk of committing another murder? It feels all wrong to me. I could use your expertise Mulder."

Mulder glanced at Alex who shrugged. It was his call then.

"Alright Kowalski. I'm in! The two of us will head down to the city of Prospect tonight. Call ahead and tell the local police to expect us."

His eyes shone as he left the building, Alex by his side. A fact that didn't escape his lover.

"You're loving this!" Alex accused, gently teasing. Mulder thought about denying it, then sighed.

"I guess I miss the old life sometimes. I used to be *so* good at this......."

Alex wrapped an arm around his waist and leaned into him. After a moment he sensed Mulder relax against him. They headed back towards the Tower on foot, content to walk in each other's arms.

"You know," Alex said softly, "I swear I can remember that office! Something about you, Kulain and a desk.......?"

He grinned when he realised Mulder was blushing. Then a thought occurred to him.

"And just how do you plan on persuading Sean to stay in Washington? You know he'll want to come too."

Mulder sighed. Just when had life become so complicated?

********

The three of them drove down from Washington that night. It was only a few hundred miles, about five hours driving time away, and Mulder let Alex drive, so he could catch up on his sleep. After last night and its aftermath, he needed it. Alex didn't seem at all tired. Sean lounged sleepily in the back seat of the hire car, rented to keep their presence inconspicuous. He had, of course, been unshakeable in his determination to come with them. Kulain had looked amused at their request, and hadn't objected to their absence for a few days. Well three demon changed men ought to be able to tackle most problems on their own!

The arrival at the local law enforcement headquarters was an event Mulder would remember for a long time. The three of them walking up to the front desk in the police headquarters and offering their I.D.s to the young cop behind the desk. Not F.B.I. standard issue, since Mulder and Alex were no longer officially part of the Bureau, but Tower identity cards. Marking them officially as demon personnel, and incidentally, bestowing unlimited credit privileges.

Not something you saw every day in a small place like this, miles from Washington. The young cop behind the desk gave a strangled sort of squawk and fled to find his superiors, casting a puzzled look at Alex as he left. Mulder heard Alex snicker softly, and tried hard, mostly unsuccessfully he had to admit, to repress his own smile. Then the Chief of police himself was coming out of his office to greet them, a look of shock on his face too. A quick invitation to his office followed, and Mulder found himself seated, facing the nervous looking man.

"Tower personnel! Here! I don't understand...... Look, anything you want, just ask. We want to cooperate with the demon authorities......." He blustered in increasing agitation.

"Didn't Special Agent Kowalski call from the F.B.I? I understand you have a problem at the moment with a serial killer. We've been asked to help. I've worked with the Profiling division, and my companions both have experience of working in law enforcement. We think we can help." Mulder tried to sound reassuring.

The atmosphere changed almost immediately.

"Well why the heck didn't you say so!" The Chief snapped. "Yes of course the F.B.I. called, I just wasn't expecting...... "

"Demon help!" Alex said slyly. He winked at Mulder. "Let us review the case files and see what we can do."

The Chief called in one of his men, a hard faced sergeant and instructed him to look after the visitors. He mopped his forehead, ridding it of the sweat that had begun to trickle down it, and let out a sigh of relief when the three visitors departed.

//Tower! In Prospect! Unbelievable!//

********

Mulder and his companions had decided to get a good night's sleep and check out the town early the next morning. Nothing could be gained from exhausting themselves further tonight, so it seemed the best plan. Until they came to ask for a room at the local motel that is. Mulder had without thinking asked the clerk at reception for one room for the three of them. The widening of her blue eyes and the shocked look she cast towards him and his companions told him what sort of response he could expect in a small town like this, for the unconventional lifestyle he led. He heard Sean and Alex both dissolve into laughter, and with a sigh, offered to pay for three of the biggest rooms. They could always hope that one of them had a large enough bed for the three of them. For it was strangely *necessary* to sleep in their arms now. Comforting. Secure. Sustaining. He resigned himself with a sigh, to a time of sneaking like a teenager, between rooms.

**********

The sorcerer frowned at his undead servants. A motley bunch, poor quality material. He would have to find some better stock soon, the already days-dead young men were beginning to smell, and their skins were turning a mottled grey-blue colour and decay at the extremities of their bodies had begun already. He regarded his hands with irritation. Unlike them, he was able to regenerate his body, with the application of a certain life fluid, and he was almost human again. A very thin, gaunt human. Apart from some particularly worm eaten parts of his body, like his hands and belly. An ugly smile crossed his almost skeletal face as he contemplated how best to find himself another two or three humans who would gift him with what he needed. Each victim brought power and strength. Already he had woken his three first sacrifices from the dead to serve him. Soon, he would have enough strength to raise more zombies, to make an army. And then he planned to destroy the town!

He smiled even more as he contemplated the camper van coming down the road, heading towards the trap his servants had set. A blockage in the road, and an apparently hurt young man. A good thing the night concealed exactly how dead the servant was! He could sense the life force of at least four members of a family in the vehicle. Enough to fill the hole in his belly, as it were. Grinning at his cleverness, he settled down with the patience of the long dead, and waited.

*******

Mulder and his companions were woken from a sound sleep, curled up against one another in an untidy tangle, by the hammering on the door of their room. Alex, half asleep, yelled at the caller to wait, then Mulder blearily made his way to the doorway and opened it. The police sergeant who was their liason stood there, plainly surprised at their all being in the same room at this hour. A man of small town sensibilities. Schooling his features to neutrality, he gave the three men the latest news.

********

"Three more bodies torn apart!" Alex shook his head in disbelief. He had seen some horrifying sights in New York. But never this degree of savagery before. Sean looked distinctly ill. Mulder forced himself to ignore the implications of the evidence around him. The detritus of human lives, the evidence of the age of some of two of the four victims. The signs of a desperate struggle, that showed in the wreckage inside the camper. One victim at least had fought before being dragged outside the camper. Mulder gestured to Alex to be quiet, and tried to absorb the atmosphere within the van. The character and probable behaviour of the victims, the savagery and disregard of the killers. All was important in profiling this serial killer. Or as he was beginning to suspect, more than one individual had committed the crime.

An immensely strong murderer, who left little blood at the scene of the crime. Was it because he had some awful use for the stuff? And why attack groups of people? Surely that would make the killing harder. Unless of course his *need* for the act of murder was overwhelming. And why the emphasis on graveyards. One empty ancient coffin. Three empty mortuary slabs. Bodies then were also a vital part of the killer's needs. It had been known for serial killers in the past to take body parts as souvenirs. But rarely the whole corpse. Then again, there had been that extraordinary Nielsen case in London, about ten years ago, when over a dozen corpses had been kept for weeks before being dismembered and partially flushed down the sewer. The killer had only been discovered by the action of a luckless sewer worker......

His musings were cut short by the yell from one of the crime scene personnel who had been combing the area. Under one body part, as it was being removed to the morgue, something unusual had been discovered. Mulder and Alex went to look at it. The partial forefinger of a several days old corpse, already slippery with the slime of decay. Apparently brought here by the killer(s). The police chief, who had made an appearance, shook his head in disbelief. He put a voice to the thoughts all of them were having.

"Why the hell would he bring body parts to another murder? Is he trying to leave us a clue? Or is he just plain insane?"

And though they spent most of the day combing the area and talking to local residents, in the end, no-one could answer him.

********

It was a human invented pleasure that he didn't often indulge himself in. But driving along the open road with no other traffic in sight, Kulain felt free to let the car accelerate to its design limits and speed at over a hundred miles an hour down the highway. His reflexes were more than adequate to handle any crisis, but his senses told him that there were no obstacles to fear.

He had decided to join his sweet triad on their investigation. But there was, for once, no urgency about this and he had revelled in the freedom of the road. Fast cars were threatening to become an addiction, despite the fact that he had only bought a Porsche to please Fox. But now that he had moved into the rarefied levels of human society where cars were a status symbol, a unique, sleek Italian model was more to his liking. In black of course.

He frowned in annoyance as a sudden sound distracted him, the wail of a police siren. A cruiser was rapidly advancing on his sports car as he slowed for an approaching town ahead on the highway. How irritating! Since he had little to fear even from the most hardened cop, he gradually, teasingly slowed, and finally pulled over. He could see the lights of the nearby homes in the distance, just appearing as the dusk came. Presumably the long sought destination of Prospect.

The lone cop climbed out of his car and advanced cautiously towards his quarry, hand close to his holstered handgun. Kulain watched the figure approach and smiled slightly. He loved to watch humans' faces when they realised who he was. A small quirk in his character, which Fox would have called devilry, no doubt. The officer who converged on his car was young and slim, and Kulain smiled appreciatively. Then the cop spoke.

"Keep your hands where I can see them! No tricks!" The cop drew alongside. "Let me see your driving documents..... move slowly!"

Kulain grinned slyly and handed the required papers to the cop, not entirely accidentally letting his talons show a little. Then he lifted his slit pupilled eyes to check out the cop's expression.

*He* was the one that gasped in shock!

Officer Ricky Caruso had been almost ready to call it a day. He was hot and tired, and longed for a cold beer and a shower. It had been a long day, and every cop in town was on edge since the killings had started. Then he had spotted this joker in the black sports car, gunning his way across the landscape. He was more than a little annoyed by the time he had caught up with the car, which seemed to take an insolently long time to stop. This guy was going to get a speeding ticket no matter what!

He cautiously approached the driver, careful to leave no opening for the guy to pull out a gun. The man was powerfully built, and looked dangerous, although Ricky couldn't have said why this was. The perp seemed co-operative, and handed him the required documents. He caught sight of the name on the papers he held and his breath hissed in shock. This was a face he knew. In fact you would have to be dead not to know it. It glared out at you from news stands and t.v. screens everywhere.

Kulain.

The familiar face turned to look at him, impossible, inhuman eyes and an amused smile curving onto that generous mouth. Then a look of astonishment to match his own.

Kulain found himself staring into a face to match the one he had taken as his lover for over two years. Perhaps half a dozen years younger than his Alex, but just as sweet and kissable. A firm body and a glow of green eyes in the half light of the dusk. Impossible, but true. Alex had a double, a young man who by coincidence closely resembled Kulain's lover.

Kulain rose sinuously out of the car, and leaned against the hood, casual and apparently relaxed, as the young cop fled back to his patrol car, composure forgotten, and somewhat frantically radioed his base for instructions. Kulain kept his movements carefully casual. It wouldn't do to alarm this unexpectedly delightful human.

The young cop began to stammer his apologies, momentarily confounded by the position he found himself in. As if every human on the planet didn't know that Kulain of Washington could take out half a dozen opponents in the blink of an eye. The demon felt *want* uncoil within his belly as he watched the human. One hand crept unobserved towards the tyre behind him, and he quashed a momentary regret about how much this would cost him in dollars. Then a sharp talon pierced the tyre carefully, not allowing the hiss of escaping air to become audible.........

Green eyes watched Kulain cautiously. Officer Ricky Caruso flushed under the demon's scrutiny, and scowled at his own obvious fear. The human's back straightened, and he assumed a nonchalant pose, though he couldn't quite conceal a shaking hand as he gestured to Kulain's beautiful sports car.

"You can go....... I'm sorry...... Oh!"

Kulain followed the cop's gaze, then glared at Caruso. "The damn tyre is flat now! How the hell am I going to get a replacement around here. The tyres cost a thousand dollars apiece. I'll have to ride with you into town!"

The young cop blanched. Then reluctantly nodded, affecting a scowl. What choice did he have?

He didn't see Kulain's satisfied smile. It would have sent shivers down his spine.

********

Mulder sighed tiredly, and headed for the rather fly blown diner on the corner of the street, opposite the motel. He didn't feel much like eating anyway, after the sights of the day, but his demon half demanded nourishment, as red and rare as possible, and the place did have thick steak on the menu, its one redeeming feature. Alex had gone ahead to order, with Sean, while he finished typing up his profile for the investigators. Not, as yet, a long document.

He didn't notice the very thin man who passed him on the street, and who turned to look at the handsome man as he passed by. Mulder's unconscious grace and the sleek power of his movements made the sorcerer realise that this man was *dangerous.* Mulder was watched until he passed out of sight. Then the sorcerer continued thoughtfully along the street. He had seen such things before, once, long ago, in certain forbidden areas in the Far East, during his own delvings into forbidden knowledge. You could say that it took a predator to recognise another hunter. He decided to be far more careful about covering his tracks. At least until he had secured his power in this place and time. Whether the beautiful demon man was hunting him he didn't know. But he was no easy prey.

When the forefathers of Prospect had buried the undead sorcerer in a secure coffin, bound by holy and unholy charms and seals, they had never anticipated the folly and ignorance of modern man. A situation the sorcerer planned to exploit to the full.

********

Ricky felt like he'd fallen into a black hole and come out in another universe. Things like this just didn't happen to him! He never met anyone famous, and he never, ever had supernatural things happen to him. It was as if the whole town had gone crazy lately. What with the whispers of something haunting the graveyards, and the recent killings...... And now this! He was beginning to regret his recent transfer to this town. Things had been simpler when he had lived up north, less complicated.

He glanced in the mirror at the passenger who rode in the back of his car. It gave him the creeps to be so close to *this* particular being. Though he was determined not to let the demon see how nervous he was. He swung his eyes back to the road, just in time to see something humanoid, white and vaguely luminescent, cross his path. With a sudden curse he slammed on the brakes and felt the car skid to a halt.

"What the hell....?"

Not an entirely apt choice of words in the circumstances. His passenger was out of the car within moments of its coming to a standstill, peering into the dusk with a distinctly puzzled expression.

//His eyes..... Oh god!//

Luminous green eyes with wide, enlarged slit pupils, scanning the darkened brush at the side of the road, looking for the fast moving thing that had crossed their path. Kulain shook his head.

"Gone! Whatever it was, it moved fast!" A frown. "Too fast for a human!"

Kulain watched the human flinch at his words, and shiver violently.

Ricky felt more than afraid at the moment. He was an *experienced* officer, four years out of the police academy, and with a commendation to his name. He wasn't easily bothered by night terrors. But it was an isolated spot, and here he was looking for some apparently unnatural creature, with a *demon* standing so close beside him. Perhaps Kulain was the one responsible for the murders. His hand crept down to rest in false reassurance against the cool grip of his gun.

It was a surprise then, for Kulain to smile at him gently and gesture towards the car. Pretending disinterest, the young officer slid into the driver's seat. Warily, he glanced at his companion. Kulain sat next to him in the front passenger seat. He should have felt more nervous, being closer to this deadly being. But oddly, it was reassuring.

*******

Ricky Caruso didn't think he had ever been in such deep trouble with his superiors. Not that he had been in town for very long, but he had already been reprimanded twice. Once for getting a little too enthusiastic with the pursuit of a suspect. Well, maybe not so little..... And once for denting his car bumper in a small accident. Not major league stuff like this! Bringing a demon into the town. That particular demon, who had heads of state and presidents running around after him like headless chickens.

He sat uncomfortably in the Chief's office, staring at the floor, trying not to watch his inhuman companion, who rested one hand casually on the desk, and was tapping disconcertingly, with one half-retracted talon on the wooden surface. Irresistibly, while he waited for the Chief and his staff to decide on a course of action, he found his gaze straying towards the big demon. What the hell did you say to someone like that for smalltalk. His fellow officers had given Ricky and his companion a wide berth as they entered the station. Word had got around then. Even wearing dark glasses to conceal his identity, not very successfully, Kulain was dangerous looking. Ricky was beginning to fear that he would be stuck with the responsibility of keeping Kulain out of trouble.

//Yeah, sure! No problem! Let the new boy take all the heat!//

The Chief returned, wreathed in false smiles. Kulain could make himself comfortable in the office until his companions could be found. The word was that the other three Tower operatives were staying over in the Mandrell Motel, and had been assisting the investigation all day. Someone had been sent to contact them. Officer Caruso would, predictably, take care of his needs until then. *Anything* Kulain wanted........

Ricky Caruso scowled at his superior. Not that it did any good. The word was that Kulain's companions were not at the motel. It looked as though Ricky would have to stay with the demon until they could be found.

********

Ricky stared, transfixed at the demon's hand, that rested on the table next to him. In the two hours since he had arrived here, it had become more and more difficult to avoid glancing at his enigmatic companion. After all, he was breathing the same air, and staring at the same four walls as the demon. The demon's hand was long fingered, and by all accounts, immensely strong. With a hint of the non-human heritage of its owner, a hint of pointed fingernail with just a trace of green in the bed of the nail. He didn't realise how intently he was staring at it. Slowly, irresistibly, he reached out to touch the hand, *needing* to know whether it felt in the least human.

Warm! Not cold or clammy or anything else he had imagined. If anything slightly warmer than human. He lifted the hand and examined the nails, pressing on one and gasping as it slid, unresisting out of its retractable housing. Like a cats! For some reason, he felt the urge to raise that hand to his face and rub his cheek against it. It would feel good, he knew......

"Officer Caruso?" There was just a trace of sharpness in the demon's voice. "Do you plan to hold hands with me all evening? I grow hungry, and I don't think you want me to hunt for food round here. Not when good steak would be a perfectly satisfactory alternative! I'm sure you can direct me to a suitable restaurant....." He smiled wickedly at Ricky, enjoying the sudden realisation that entered the feisty young officer's face.

Ricky jerked back as if he had been stung, dropping Kulain's hand, his eyes wide, as if he couldn't quite believe what he had just been doing. Shocked green eyes watched him, and Kulain saw with satisfaction, the rapid, agitated rise and fall of the young cop's chest.

Seduction was such fun. The hunt, the chase, the bringing *down* of beautiful prey.....

**********

The sorcerer gave a hiss of pleasure as he looked upon the offering his servants had brought him. A female, pretty and unsuspecting. Who had entered into a nightmare world when the zombies had kidnapped her from her isolated home on the edge of town. Her life would buy him much power, if the proper rituals were observed. Pain, blood and suffering were paramount. The longer his sacrifice lasted, the more occult strength the blood sacrifice would provide. He would raise a cone of power sufficient to reanimate at least five other zombies. Smiling, he raised the knife and made the first of many cuts.

**********

Reaching out, grabbing for something you've got to feel,  
Closing in. The pressure upon you is so unreal.........  
.........Reaching out for something you've got to feel,  
While clutching to what you had thought was real.  
What the hell?  
Metallica - Lyrics to The struggle within.  
********

Sometime tonight his world had tilted on its axis, the familiar bounds that limited his horizons had disappeared. Quite when it had happened, Ricky Caruso wasn't sure. But as he sat drinking at a local bar in the city of Prospect, he knew that it all came down to the force a certain enigmatic being had exerted on his life. Kulain. Demon, killer, dark lord. Whatever he was, his wicked smile haunted Ricky still.

It had seemed simple enough. Take the demonlord to the hotel where his trio of personnel were staying, and transfer him into their tender care. Let them deal with him. He had protested of course, and he had known that his superiors would make him pay, in the end for *that* mistake. But being near Kulain was disturbing in a way he couldn't explain. He hated Kulain for making him feel so very....... powerless.

He lifted up green eyes, fringed with long, dark lashes, and tried to muster up a smile for the pretty girl who was behind the bar, serving his latest drink. He was a regular in this place, and normally needed little encouragement to flirt with her, ever optimistic about his chances for romance. Tonight though, his usual casual banter felt so insipid and pointless. He could pretend to himself for the rest of his life that he wasn't affected by what he had seen. But it wouldn't be true.

The door to room 34 of the Mandrell Hotel had been unerringly approached by Kulain, almost as if he could sense his colleagues. Then he had opened it, without even knocking. Ricky, following behind, had heard gasps, then someone cried out in joy! Kulain had staggered back a few steps, into Ricky's line of sight, his arms wrapped around a man in his twenties, with piercing blue eyes. The guy had obviously leapt at Kulain and was presently twining himself around the demonlord like a snake. Ricky couldn't imagine anything he'd hate more. To be intimate with Kulain! His mind conveniently forgot his own strange behaviour. But that's exactly what Blue Eyes had done next. And what a kiss, open mouthed, tongues probing, arms slipping down each other's bodies in sensual caresses. In that moment, Officer Ricky Caruso learned more about the demon world's interaction with humanity than he ever wanted to know. But it was what happened next that had terrified him. Two other men had come into view, both smiling, evidently as happy to see Kulain as their companion. One of them was a handsome dark haired man, tall, apparently in his early thirties, very self assured. And the second one..........

He must have made some sound of shock, for the three men were suddenly staring at him, and he had the brief but disconcerting impression, probably because of their almost-glowing eyes, that they would have killed him if he had been in any way threatening. They had reacted so quickly. As if, for a moment, they weren't quite human.

The third man...... It was like looking in a mirror, and seeing himself as he might be in about five years!

Kulain met his gaze, and gave quite the most wicked smile he had ever seen. And Ricky realised that from the beginning, Kulain had been playing a game with him.

His nerve finally broke, and Ricky Caruso unashamedly fled the scene, his flight taking him back towards police headquarters.

And there, at headquarters, he was given the news. There was the ultimate disgrace of being partnered tomorrow with Grace Mayberry, Ms. Traffic Ticket herself, as if he was still a probationer, because of his poor performance in the field today. Because he hadn't managed to get rid of Kulain. Something the President of the United States himself found impossible to do. The whole responsibility for Kulain's presence in the town would be Ricky's. He had been so freaked out by the sight of his double that he hadn't even offered a word in his defence.

The pretty barmaid's voice broke into his troubled thoughts.

"Want another, Ricky?"

He shook his head. Not even the prospect of a pleasant flirtation could dispel his sense of foreboding.

"It's been a hell of an evening. I think I'll just call it a day."

//Yeah. One *Hell* of a day//

********

Kulain was playing one of his infrequent but disturbing games with his lovers. The last time they had gone through this, Mulder mused, they had ended up with Sean in their bed, when Kulain had decided to increase his little harem by one. What the hell did he intend now? The three of them had been more than a little surprised to see the young cop who had escorted the demon to the Hotel. His resemblance to Alex was disturbing, to say the least. And the way Kulain had smiled at the young man had rung alarm bells inside Mulder's skull. Like he was the big bad bear who just wanted to eat the cop up or ........

Or something just as predatory.....

Fox Mulder was beginning to understand a lot of what motivated his lover. And one of Kulain's principal instincts seemed to be the need to hunt. There was an aggressive side to him that was generally satisfied by assertive and dominant sexual activity. But like a lion caged, he still had those same inner desires, that could never entirely be satisfied, or concealed. Like all males of his species, he had a powerful urge to spread his seed as wide as possible, to maximise the chances of reproductive success. In essence, to have sex with as many humans as possible, to spread his DNA far and wide throughout the gene pool.

Understanding his big lover didn't make it any easier to accept Kulain's desire for yet another man. But there was no changing Kulain's nature. Kulain had a new target in sight, and the fact that the cop looked like Alex would only make things worse. And besides, whatever the demon did, Mulder was by now too closely bound to his lover, too addicted to the feel of Kulain driving into him. That brief thought alone made Fox Mulder moan and rub at his hardening nipples, trying to simulate the feel of the demon's teeth nipping at his flesh. He whimpered anew at the sensation.

Kulain had heard Mulder's small noises of need, and was moving towards his possession, dark lust in his eyes. Mulder automatically dropped to all fours before him, bracing his body so that he could withstand the power of Kulain's penetrating thrusts. He caught sight briefly of Alex and Sean writhing together on the bed. Then he lost interest in everything except the demon's more-than-human shaft driving deep into his body, at a pace that drove away all thought and reason. Tonight was going to be taxing for all three of Kulain's lovers. There was a dark hunger inside the demon, and Mulder knew why.

Maybe if he and the others exhausted Kulain tonight, the demon would forget the young cop.........

//Sure! There was about as much chance of that as of the Smoker helping them defeat the aliens.//

He felt a momentary pity for the undeniably pretty human. But his own acquisitive instincts whispered betraying things........ What would the cop be like in bed? Would he really be like Alex.......? Hating himself for such beguiling thoughts, he threw himself into the self appointed task of distracting Kulain.... and himself.... from the young cop.

And Alex watched the face of his unusually thoughtful partner with an uneasy frown.

The Sorcerer was almost ready to strike against the citizens of the little town when he became aware of the presence of another powerful being close by. He had not spent years studying dark occult forces without being able to sense the proximity of a demon. For who else could have created the enhanced human he had seen in the town earlier. It presented an almost insurmountable problem for him. Two hunters in one small area, both looking for humans to serve their needs. Conflict would ensue, unless he took the greatest care. It was time to change his plans, to become more subtle in his approach. He damned his luck in being detected so quickly by those who had the power to stop him. But all was not lost. The priority now became the gathering of intelligence on this enemy.

Things had indeed changed over the years, if demons now served the law in this country. So he must look to the law to supply him with information. And seek new allies in his quest for power. Or rather, one very old, very sly ally who would do much for the promise of blood.

*******

"You ought to go back to Washington, Sean." Mulder grinned at the expression of disappointment that his partner showed. "I'm serious. We need to find out more about the character who was buried in that old grave. And the woman at the county courthouse claimed that a whole stack of papers relating to the history of the town were placed in the Library of Congress about twenty years ago. We really need to know more about the town legends....."

Sean sighed. Fox Mulder had a way of getting what he wanted that was almost foolproof. Perhaps it was the way he smiled, or the husky tone to his voice when it became low and persuasive. But Sean knew he would comply. As ever.

"I'm going to take Alex and check over the last crime scene again. Maybe there's something we missed. Then we'll check the other graveyards in the area to see if they've been disturbed. Call me if you find anything."

Assuming of course, that Sean was going to do as he was asked. Which of course he would. But driving to Washington and back in one day was going to be exhausting. Mulder abruptly dispersed all of his resentment and irritation by reaching out spontaneously and hugging him, and for a moment, they leaned together, in an instinctive strengthening of their bonds of affection.

Sean wondered how they had ever gotten to be so close, the three of them. But were they Kulain's lovers or his concubines?

********

Ricky Caruso sighed and prepared for the most boring afternoon of his life. The delectable Grace, one of the most irritating women he had ever met, and also one of the most muscular, was writing up her twelfth traffic violation in the two hours since they had started this shift. The woman was a tiger when it came to bureaucracy. Which made him wonder how differently she would have handled yesterday's fiasco with the Demonlord. Not that it mattered. He was being put firmly in his place by the powers-that-be. As if a mistake about a random traffic check was within his control.

This ticket was being written for not using the correct car lights, because even though it was only early afternoon, the fog had descended over the town, as it frequently did at this time of year. And Grace saw the carelessness of drivers in the fog as a heaven sent opportunity to beat her all time record of twenty tickets in one afternoon.

Ricky felt like handing in his notice and seeking another job. Maybe on the West Coast. Yeah. A job with the California Highway Patrol maybe, riding one of those spectacular bikes in the warmer climate of Malibu, with the hedonistic lifestyle it implied. He allowed himself to daydream, forgetting for a moment the reality of his situation. That is, until Grace climbed back into the passenger side of the patrol car and gestured peremptorily for him to move on. Suppressing anew the surge of irritation he felt, he obeyed. One of these days he was going to make the arrest of a lifetime and become famous..... Visions of guest slots on daytime talk shows materialised, and he imagined his face on the cover of more than one magazine. Maybe he should have arrested Kulain. That would really have made his name a household word.....

He barely managed to slam on the brakes in time as a terrified woman emerged from the fog, her clothing torn, bleeding from a dozen lacerations on her face and body. Only a piece of smart steering directed the patrol car away from her. He and Grace emerged from the patrol car simultaneously and rushed forwards. Ricky vaguely recognised the woman as a nurse from the local hospital. He remembered checking her out one time. But in her present condition, she wouldn't be winning any beauty pageants for a while. With an incoherent whimper, she pointed a trembling finger towards the swirling fog that cloaked the entrance to the hospital grounds. That co-incidentally or not, ran parallel to an old cemetery.

"I was walking home....... Someone.... something..... attacked me......" She barely managed to stammer the words before sagging in a half faint against the side of the patrol car.

"Stay here Ricky. Look after her! I'll check it out while you call for back-up." Before he could raise an objection, his new partner disappeared into the fog, weapon drawn. Within a few steps, he couldn't even hear her any more, not clearly. The fog seemed to refract and intermingle sounds so that he wasn't sure any more what direction his partner had moved in.

Then he heard the shots, six fired in quick succession. There was a momentary silence, then a terrible scream, rising out of the fog, going silent with a horrible gargling that choked off abruptly.

Ricky didn't remember drawing his gun. Only that it was in his hand as he ran forward. He had shoved the nurse into his patrol car and locked the door quickly, then took off in the direction he thought the scream had come from. But after only half a minute, he knew he had mistaken the position of the victim in the fog. Either that, or he had become disoriented himself. For he was no longer in the well manicured grass of the hospital grounds. The earth underfoot was muddy and rank weeds were poking out of the ground, brushing the legs of his pants with slime. Then he stumbled against something on the ground and fell to his knees. He put one hand out and found himself touching a long fallen grave marker, half hidden in the long grass. Even as he knelt, he heard something move close beside him, and before he could react, something barrelled into his body from behind, knocking him flat on his face against the cold marble of the memorial. He tried to twist round, but there was an impossibly heavy weight on his back and he found it almost impossible to move.

A foul smell began to percolate through the damp air, and he choked with disgust at the loathsome odour of decay that filled his nostrils. He fumbled for his gun, which was inches away from his fingers, but then a foot descended on his hand and he realised that not one, but two attackers were present. The second one chuckled, an obscene sound that made him shiver, there was something not quite human about that sound, as if it came from a throat that had long since ceased to make human speech. Dully he raised his head, trying to make out the identity of his attackers.

An unholy sight met his eyes. A grinning long dead corpse, skin greenish and oozing unnameable fluids. With eyes that burned a hellish yellow. A maggoty tongue emerged from the peeling lips and licked them hungrily. And Ricky screamed as he realised he was on the menu.

Kulain had watched his three humans go their separate ways without complaint. He wanted, for once, to be alone, so he could examine the evidence brought by his sharp senses. There was something about this place that bothered him. Some hint of darkness, old, past living memory, that suggested an evil had once dwelt there for a long time. Perhaps the sorcerer of local legend. Whatever it was, the power was stirring again.

The power he sensed had a hint of almost Stygian evil. Some power connected to the time when demons and other malign forces had freely walked the earth. To a time when human sacrifice was common and a hunger for blood had ruled. He was old. But not that old, and despite his power, he knew enough to be wary in seeking out *this* opponent.

Slowly, he extended his senses, and began to search for the source of the evil. As the other was no doubt doing with him. And when he had a bearing for the source of power, he moved out to seek it, heading west, out of town towards the other side of the valley. Almost immediately, he felt the power stir as it sensed his hunt. And the power dimmed as its owner withdrew from such a flamboyant display of energy. It made the hunt far harder, but at least Kulain had a better idea of where to look.

Then he felt a brief, almost imperceptible stir as the other used magic to cover his trail. Fog began to pour down the sides of the valley.

So be it. The hunt was on, and Kulain would not allow himself to be defeated. He continued to search, moving far faster than a human. At least the fog the enemy had created had some benefits. For he could move far faster than humans without hindrance, in its concealment.

********

"Blood........" the Zombie hissed, the word barely recognisable in its misshapen mouth. Eagerly, it reached for Ricky, grabbing at the young cop's hair, and pulling his head back. The other zombie that knelt on his back hissed in agreement. Ricky cried out hoarsely, and struggled uselessly. They were far stronger than human, the force that animated their decaying bodies more than made up for their disintegrating condition. Ricky suddenly realised why there had been odd body parts left at the scene of two of the recent atrocities. The killers weren't human. At least, not any more.....

The zombie chuckled again and a bony finger was extended to press painfully into his throat, as if testing the succulence of the flesh. The zombie nodded to its companion. Then Ricky saw the second one's hand, with its long curving nails, reaching down to caress his throat. He swallowed convulsively as the nails stroked his throat. Then he saw the bowl that was placed under him and he realised that he was going to die.

"No!"

The word wasn't his, someone else had spoken. Before Ricky could take in that fact, the weight was wrenched away from him and flung with incredible strength against a grave marker. As it feebly struggled to rise again, a dark form lunged past Ricky and he had a brief glimpse of long talons arching downwards. Then his attacker was literally torn to pieces. The form moved to the still stirring second attacker and finished him off.

Ricky pressed his forehead against the cool marble beneath him, too stunned to move, drawing in long, shuddering breaths as he realised how close he had come to death.

"A life!" The voice was low but authoritative. It cut through the fog in his brain, and the young cop lifted his head to look at his rescuer. Kulain leaned in casual amusement, against a tomb. He casually seated himself on it. Ricky stood up shakily and moved away from the foul smelling corpses. He stumbled forward, unconsciously moving closer to the safety of Kulain's commanding presence.

"You owe me a life, Officer Caruso. In my culture, that means you must do me a service in return. Serve my body's needs and there will be no debt between us."

Ricky shivered as he watched his rescuer. The thought of being left alone in this terrible place was more than he could bear. He nodded finally.

"What do you want from me?" Ricky said hoarsely. His green eyed gaze intersected with Kulain's The demon gave a wicked smile, that made Ricky tremble with more than cold or fear.

"Something I don't get from any other being, little one....... Worship me!" There was a low undertone of darkness in the demon's voice that made Ricky momentarily dizzy. He found himself staring at the erection that had suddenly begun to rise between his rescuer's legs. Before he could analyse his reactions, he had fallen to his knees before the big demon. His legs felt incredibly weak and shaky, so the young cop had little choice but to obey the unspoken demand. The position put him a foot away from Kulain, with his face level with the demon's bulging maleness. He moaned in fear, his eyes drawn unwilling to the huge swelling of Kulain's erection. Kulain leaned back on his marble resting place, and one hand reached down to free his erection from restrictive human style clothing.

Ricky Caruso moaned when he saw the size of it, longer and thicker than a human's, surely at the limits of human tolerance. He backed away slightly, saw the demon lips curve in amusement.

"Well, pretty one? Show me how much you owe me for saving your life...."

Ricky shook his head in terror, momentarily speechless.

"..... I can't....." he whispered.

Unexpectedly. Kulain laughed. Ricky flushed, and as the demon's amusement intensified, the young cop glared at his rescuer, fear forgotten.

"I'm not scared of you!" he snarled, bravado momentarily overcoming caution.

"Prove it!" Kulain challenged.

Ricky knew what Kulain wanted. Some form of sex as payment for a life. He had agreed to this. But he hadn't thought the consequences through. In the end, he didn't actually know how to pleasure another man. He had never even contemplated such an act.

"How?" Ricky said nervously.

Kulain watched the human try to figure out how to avoid the situation he found himself in. Did Ricky know how obvious he was making it that he was a virgin with men? Probably not, though his desperate exertions on behalf of his virtue were only serving to make Kulain want him more. The urge to play with one's prey, after the capture, but before he moved in to finish the game.

Finally, Kulain relented a little.

"Use your hands, little one. That will satisfy me...... for now."

Ricky Caruso's eyes narrowed a little. But when it became obvious to the young cop that he wasn't going to be nailed to the floor and raped within an inch of his life, he relaxed slightly. Hesitantly, nervously, one hand reached forward to touch another male's erection for the first time. Ricky gasped at the heat thrown off by Kulain's stiff member. It felt heavy in his hands, so hard that he felt a little shiver run down his spine at the thought of what it must be like to have *that* powering its way inside you. The demon hissed at the feel of the young cop's inexpert touch.

Hesitantly, Ricky ran his fingers along Kulain's cock from base to tip. The demon closed his eyes and sighed in pleasure. The singing of his blood from his earlier hunt was still present. It would take little effort at the moment to satisfy him. Then Ricky Caruso began to pull at the erection he held, in imitation of the masturbatory strokes he used when he sought his own pleasure. Then he began to rub at the glistening tip, spreading the glistening droplets of pre-cum across the swollen head and trailing his fingers across the veined length of it. Kulain moaned, barely able to hold himself back from plundering the human, and finding out what treasures his blue uniform concealed. Right now, Ricky's face was fixed in concentration, perhaps not as indifferent as he pretended.

********

It was strange to be doing this. In a way awesome. That one of the most powerful beings in the world was in his hands, sensually stirring as he was brought to satisfaction by Ricky Caruso, small town cop. Yet it was also terrifying. Ricky had never done this sort of thing before. Why only the sort of street scum he arrested daily gave hand jobs to men in public places. Why did the thought make him breath faster? Why did he stare in fascination at the drops of liquid that formed at the tip of Kulain's cock? Why did his mind keep producing the most erotic, blasphemous images of himself, lying on white, silken sheets while Kulain.......

He found himself breathing hard, panting almost, as his hands moved ever faster in their busy task.

Kulain cried out hoarsely, and a shudder ran through his big frame. Hands reached out and caught at Ricky, claws momentarily emerging and catching in the dark fabric of Ricky's jacket as Kulain came. Jets of pearly semen spurted from the tip of Kulain's penis, with more than human force, and splattered across the younger man's face and hair, momentarily catching the light like a line of glittering jewels. Kulain gently stroked the bowed head, hearing the shuddering breaths gradually steady as Ricky's heartbeat slowed, and his body recovered from the unexpected exertion. Kulain ran a taloned hand through the human's hair, finely combing it with his talons. The human allowed the caress. He looked dazed, as if he was sleepwalking. Irresistibly, Kulain kissed him, a hard, demanding kiss that made the human moan, and cling to him momentarily, before he regained his composure, and pushed the demon away from his lips..

Ricky lifted a finger, and wiped a sticky droplet from his cheek. The finger slowly descended towards Ricky's kiss reddened lips, carrying a pearly droplet. The lush lips parted, the finger closer than ever to them. The droplet started to trickle down Ricky's finger, and the young cop turned his hand, watching the motion. The human's head tilted as he started to slide his finger between those responsive lips Kulain tensed slightly, his lips curving in pleased anticipation of the total possession of Ricky Caruso. The moment that his essence would enter the human and bind him, body and soul to the demon forever.

But some feral instinct in the human must have sensed Kulain's tension. The green eyes suddenly widened as if Ricky suddenly realised what he was doing.

With a gasp of horror, Ricky Caruso jerked away from Kulain, flinging his hand wide. The droplet flew away from him, splattering against marble, as he shook his head, eyes wide in denial.

"No.....!"

He was on his feet and running away from Kulain, terror at his own actions making him flee as far away as possible from Kulain, panicked and uncomprehending. He wiped his hand frantically against his thigh, trying to wipe away the feel of the demon seed on his fingers.

Kulain sighed as he watched Caruso flee. The human really was exquisite. The best ones were, of course, the hardest to capture and tame.

*********

Ricky stared dully at his reflection in the men's room mirror of the police station. He had called for backup, when he had finally found his patrol car, but no trace of Grace could be found. The search still continued, despite the fog which was thicker than ever. He had been sent back to the station to give a statement, but it was clear that his confused tale of zombies and demons wasn't believed.

Despite his efforts to conceal the evidence, the droplets of semen had dried to whiteness on his skin and clothing within minutes. He thought, briefly, that he looked like a whore. It was in his hair, on his blue shirt and his one and only dark police jacket. And worse still, the Police chief, his boss, had noticed something amiss. Ricky had seen the eyes widen, and something suspiciously like contempt had crossed the older man's face. Ricky closed his eyes and rested his head for a moment against the coolness of the mirror. God knows what they thought he had been doing when his partner had disappeared. He doubted somehow, whether his career was going to survive this.

He tugged the jacket off, intending to scrub at it in the sink. He could smell the demon's essence, a musky aroma that carried with it a hint of some dizzying scent, one that made his heart beat faster and sent a wave of heat through his body. Other parts of his body stirred, as almost unconsciously, he buried his face in the dark fabric and rubbed it against his face. Then jerked back as he realised how easily he was being carried away once again by his most secret desires.

He began to frantically scrub at the deposits, trying to hide the evidence of his encounter. Too little, too late. He was shocked to the core at his own compliance with Kulain's desires. Deeply and utterly ashamed of his own actions. How could he have sunk so low? To touch another man was horror enough for the young cop, having been brought up in a deeply conservative home. But with a demon! And afterwards, to automatically reach out to lick his hand clean .......

He doubled up over the sink and began to void the contents of his stomach. And he continued to retch, long after he had done just that.

********

Another disappearance. And as luck would have it, at the opposite end of town from where they had been searching. Mulder sighed, and sank down on a bench in the outer office of the Police Station. He was tired from spending most of the day walking through tangled undergrowth and swampy edge-of-town wasteland. He could really use a shave and a shower right now. Then something hot and juicy from the steak-house, maybe. Alex, as always, had more energy, so had followed the cops to the scene of the latest outrage. If there was anything there, he would find it.

Mulder rubbed at his eyes tiredly, then leaned back and surveyed the room. He saw a door swing open and to his surprise, the young cop they had seen earlier emerged. He really did look like Alex. He also looked just about as tired and miserable as a man could get. He really did look *so much* like Alex. It was uncanny.

Mulder found himself almost reflexively moving towards the human. Later he would reason with himself that he was acting as though this *was* Alex. But somehow, he had to comfort the unhappy young cop. He stood in front of Ricky, and reached out towards the seated man. And perhaps because he was so tired, so confused by the day's events, Ricky didn't try to resist Mulder as he tilted the young cop's chin up to peer into slightly dazed green eyes. Ricky looked adorable, slightly flustered by Fox Mulder's touch, yet instinctively responding to the compassion in the Tower employee's eyes.

Innocent green eyes, Mulder realised in surprise. When had Alex ever been without that knowing smile or the dangerous edge brought by a life of hardship unimagined by most people. Ricky's distinctive naivete was like an aura about the young cop, something Mulder realised he could perceive only because of his inhuman instincts. There was a lingering trace of Kulain's scent, overlaying that of the young cop, a spicy hint of maleness and sex. Kulain had been amusing himself already then. But not fully. Mulder couldn't sense any demon quality within Ricky. Not yet.

Was this how Kulain saw the world? No wonder he sought out beautiful men like Sean or Ricky. To taste of their sweetness. Before he could reason how or why, he was moving forward to kiss the utterly fuckable lips, covering them with his own in a kiss that took control of the perfect mouth, plundering it, sliding his tongue inside and taking what he desired. Ricky moaned, and for a moment kissed back, unable to resist the singing in his blood, as he reacted to the demon presence close to him.

Then he was slammed against the wall, as Mulder's kiss became more fierce, more intense. Ricky gasped, and the sound was smothered by the pressure of the mouth covering his. He wanted to cling to the other man with every fibre of his being. He could feel Fox Mulder's arousal, and almost instinctively, he arched his body against Mulder's, grinding his own hardness against the others thigh as it pressed insistently between his legs.

Fortunately or not, it was at that moment that the Police Captain emerged from his office with some of his men and it was his cry of shock that broke the spell. An aghast Ricky saw a group of his colleagues staring at him as he very publicly flushed his career down the drain.

With all his strength, he pushed Mulder away, and fled, ignoring the puzzled glances of other, as yet ignorant colleagues as he ran down the hallways and out into the early evening darkness. The story would get around soon enough about what Ricky Caruso got up to when he should have been on duty.

Mulder closed his eyes and leaned against the wall. How could he have been so stupid? Not only had he compromised the professional relationship he had with another law enforcement colleague, but he had also tried to betray Alex. A fine time to decide he liked his sex in public. For he had been ready to fuck the young cop through the wall, and nothing else had mattered in those few moments except the feel of the warm human body against his.

//As prey?//

********

Ricky ran, his heart thundering, stressed beyond his limits by what Kulain, and now Fox Mulder, had tried to do to him. They both wanted him. And to his eternal horror and shame, he *had* wanted to be taken. He had wanted to accept their kisses and more..... And it had been so very hard to resist his own traitorous body. He had to get away. He ran desperately towards the darkened parking lot that lay nearby, intending to drive to his small apartment and shower again and again until he felt clean again. Until he didn't smell of demons and sex any more. He never saw the figure climbing out of the rental car, only felt the impact as he collided clumsily with Alex Krycek and both of them fell in a tangle of limbs to the ground.

Alex smothered a curse and struggled free of the weight pressing down on him, barely noting the firm muscularity of the other's body. He knew who it was, his night vision was adequate to that task. His hated rival. The cop who looked so much like him that he had piqued the interest of Kulain. Alex also had a dawning suspicion that Mulder was following his pack leader's example, and was more than a little curious about Officer Ricky Caruso. But perhaps he was just being paranoid.....?

Maintaining an expression of neutrality, he dusted himself off and then raised his eyes to scan the cop's face. He hadn't intended to show any reaction to the other. But that was before he caught the scent of Ricky Caruso.

A heady mixture of human pheromones, nowhere near as potent as their demon counterparts. But enough to broadcast lingering traces of the human's arousal from so close a distance. And something else, that made Alex's nostrils flare in annoyance. The familiar musky scent of Kulain's seed, faint, as if hours old.

And most impossible of all, the recent, delectable scent, sweet to him as a perfume, of Fox Mulder.

Something dark uncoiled within him, and before he knew what he was doing, he had raised his fist and punched Caruso full in the face. He had a brief glimpse of wide eyed shock, then Ricky Caruso, blood streaming down from his probably broken nose, aimed a smart right cross at Alex's face. There was nothing wrong with the cop's reactions, stunned or not. The blow impacted on Alex's cheekbone, and would produce a spectacular contusion in hours to come.

Then the two of them were wildly fighting, throwing punches at each other, Alex letting out all of the anxiety and insecurity he felt, while Ricky was only too glad to ease his frustration in a good old fist fight. Within a few moments, however, he began to realise that he was more than outclassed by the phenomenal strength of the Tower employee. It was when Alex was astride him, Ricky's head between his hands, pounding his rival's skull against the tarmac that Ricky began to worry. Alex Krycek's fists were like steel, hammering again and again into his chest and stomach. And suddenly, it was no longer a fight to win, but a contest for survival. It was hard just to hold the other man at bay, to block those fists from the more delicate areas of his body.

With a snarl of frustration at the human's defensive tactics, Alex *shifted. And suddenly Ricky was beneath a green eyed demon, and the fists were now claws. He shrieked as long sharp claws tore into the thick fabric of the jacket covering his forearm, then tried to score along the side of his face. With a last, desperate effort, he twisted his body so that he could reach a rock lying on the ground nearby. And he brought it up in an arc whose intersection was Alex Krycek's head.

Ricky saw the green eyes go very wide, then the light died in them as Alex slumped unconscious to the ground.

//Oh shit! Now what was he going to do?//

A solution presented itself. He would drive the other man back to the hotel and leave him there, where he could get proper help. Then Ricky decided he was going to hand in his notice and get the hell out of town.

By the time he had driven half way across town, there were signs that Alex was stirring. The older man groaned, and his clawed demon hands scrabbled at the upholstery in a reflex action. Ricky swore softly to himself, and pulled the car over a block away from the hotel. He somehow managed to get Alex in through the service entrance and left him. As if he didn't already have enough trouble without this!

*******

Alex really felt odd. There was an ache in his head and his brain felt full of the fog that had been swirling around the valley all day. Groggily, he sat up, trying to remember how he had got there. All he could recall was being in the car coming back from a crime scene, then...... Nothing. If only his head didn't ache so. He stumbled into the lift car and made his way back to his room, his inhuman vitality lending him strength.

Kulain looked up when he entered, his expression quizzical when he saw that Alex's appearance was so rough and unkempt. Then his nose wrinkled. There was, for a moment, a hauntingly familiar scent about Alex. But the stink of human blood was the dominating factor that overwhelmed his senses. It was one thing his race excelled in detecting. He approached Alex, who watched him with an odd look of confusion in his eyes. Kulain reached for Alex's hand, and traced his fingers across the splintered talons.

"Alex?" Kulain expressed gentle concern for his beloved partner.

Mulder chose that moment to enter. He whistled as he took in Alex's rumpled appearance.

"Tough day, love?"

The pain in Alex's head abruptly intensified, as a fragment of memory emerged.

"Get off me!" He yanked his hand away from Kulain. "Don't touch me! You don't want me anyway. You want that cop!"

They were both staring at him now. And he knew something else with certainty.

"You kissed him Fox. You both want him! You don't want me any more!"

Before either of his partners could react, he lashed out with his claws at Kulain, and connected, the claws sinking deep into the other's cheek, lacerating. He heard Mulder's horrified gasp.

Then Alex saw something dark and deadly rise up in the demon's eyes, and he screamed in terror. He flung himself backwards with demon fast reflexes, and crashed out of the hotel window, falling from the third floor window to the street. Only those same reflexes making him land in a catlike stance saved his life. Then he was running in a blind panic, away, anywhere distant from Kulain. And it was only the pain in his head that finally stopped him, as he fell, clawing at the agony in his skull. Bright, impossible images swirled around him in the fog, and he whimpered in confusion and despair.

********

Mulder had watched Alex's bizarre behaviour with disbelief. And then he had seen in dismay, what Alex had done. He had never seen such a terrible cold anger in Kulain before. It made him want to run and hide himself. But then he had seen the demon tense, as if to follow Alex. And before he could consider the danger he was in, he had leapt in front of Kulain, blocking his path. For a brief instant, he looked death in the face. And forced himself to reach out a trembling hand to touch Kulain in appeal.

Incredibly, Kulain turned aside his wrath. The demon turned instead to the hotel room, and began to systematically destroy the fixtures, working out his rage on inanimate objects instead. What the hell had made Alex behave like that. Surely he couldn't have seen......

But what if he had?

There is a rigidly established social hierarchy, with a dominant male in  
charge of the group, and the others ranged below him in varying degrees  
of subordination. As the group stays together all the time, his role as  
a group tyrant is incessantly operative. He asserts himself when  
something crops up that cannot be shared, or when there are signs of a  
revolt or unruly fighting amongst the younger males.

Desmond Morris - The Naked Ape  
********

Alex Krycek had spent last night and most of the morning huddled miserably in the basement of an old warehouse. He sat on the dusty floor, leaning back against the wall behind him, knees drawn up with his arms wrapped around them. His head was throbbing with the most exquisitely torturous pain, and he possessed no greater ambition at this point than to stay where he was and let his enhanced metabolism cope with the injury the little slut had given him. How the hell had an untrained *human* got the better of him? He hadn't been beaten by a human in a fight for a long, long time. And then to so mess up things with his lovers. He ought to know by now that Fox was *his.* His whole knee-jerk reaction had been based on a single whiff of Mulder's scent on the cop's clothing. But the thought of anyone with his Fox was unbearable. He found it easier to understand Kulain's desire for the cop. Kulain was..... well..... *assertive* when it came to sex.

But it would have been so much better to have killed the cop.

Now Kulain was angry with him; he shivered at the thought. And Fox was probably *so* worried.

If only his headache would go away, he might feel like trying to straighten out his life. But for the moment, he would stay there. Let Kulain calm down and let Fox become a little more anxious, more appreciative....... Time could only work to his advantage. Tomorrow would be soon enough to sort this mess out

With a self-pitying sigh, he leaned his head against the welcome coolness of the wall behind him, preparing to enjoy a good sulk.

**********

Alex Krycek hadn't returned all day. Not that Kulain expected him back at the moment. Their fierce dispute had scared his beautiful, challenging Alex and it would take time for the green eyed assassin to regain his equilibrium. Mulder was out searching for him right now, but when Alex didn't want to be found, there was little likelihood of Mulder being successful. There was no-one who could match Alex Krycek for slyness. Alex was like a skittish thoroughbred, finely tuned, sensitive to a threat. Hard to gentle such a one.

He knew that Alex had smelt of blood and pain. He knew also, the pressures Alex would feel as his instinctive territorial desires came into play. Demons often fought over hunting space, and availability of *prey.* But still, Kulain had been caught unawares by the violence of his lover's reaction. So foolish, even careless of him to assume his control of Alex was total. Like stepping in the path of a tornado. Not necessarily fatal for his kind, but assuredly painful and destructive. There had been a torment in those eyes as Alex was driven beyond the bounds of sense or reason. And Kulain had been there to blame for all Alex's many insecurities.

Alex was so beautiful, but so disrespectful. And Kulain's instincts warred with reason, as he felt the surge of the beast within him. He had disciplined Alex once before, and lost himself in the sweetness of that lush body. And now it was so much harder to repress the urge to find his wayward lover, and teach Alex his place in the scheme of things.

Which would always be subordinate to his pack leader.

The urge to press that body beneath his and bite, to *take* and hear the ecstatic whimpers after Alex grovelled and begged forgiveness, and was generously pardoned....... Eventually!

Kulain sighed. With thoughts like this, he was more than ready to ready to sheath himself in the delectable flesh of a willing human. But Mulder had gone after Alex, and Sean was still in Washington. Which left only his pretty little cop, who was alas not ready for a demon in his bed. Unless an unexpected stroke of luck delivered him to his master on a platter.

Ah well, perhaps if he fed, it would take the edge off more than one of his appetites.

Kulain slipped out into the darkness and began to hunt.

********

The scent of demon invaded the very air around this accursed town. Or so it seemed. The sorcerer could sense his most dangerous opponent nearby, moving in a hunting pattern, seeking prey. Oh yes, he knew quite well this type of being. He had encountered them before in the dim and distant past, when he was weaker and less confident about facing one in combat. He had prudently withdrawn and his presence had remained unknown to the demon. But the failed combat had made him plan for the day he would meet such a formidable opponent again. The stakes were high this time. His very existence depended on gathering sufficient resources to survive in this unexpectedly hostile world, full of threatening demon kin.

He would have to call upon the dark gods who dwelt in the deepest reaches of the Netherworld. The pre-human, primeval evil from the limits of hell that even a demon would fear. The thought of it chilled even his undead flesh. But there would also be benefits to such a partnership. The human servant of such a being would be granted so much power, if the dark one was released from the place where it was incarcerated.

He called his zombie servants to him, and issued a series of commands. Certain preparations were under way. Ten screaming captives were about to be sacrificed, and certain passages would be solemnly intoned from the forbidden book, the Necronomicon. And one of his captives would be chosen by the dark forces he called upon, reanimated as a host for the nameless one.

The demon would die. And then there would be no force strong enough to withstand him.

He drew the book towards him and began the ritual.

********

Ricky cursed Kulain. He cursed Fox Mulder. And most of all, he cursed himself for being so weak and stupid that he had yielded to their advances. Publicly! The last time had been right in the Police Station, in front of his own Police Chief. If he had wanted to commit social and career suicide, he couldn't have chosen a better method. This morning when he had talked in the Chief's office, last night's little incident hadn't been mentioned. The chief didn't really need to give a reason for suspending Ricky from duty for a week after the young cop had lost his partner. But the contempt had been there in the chief's face, and more than one of his fellow officers had sniggered when they saw him. The most humiliating moment had been when he had gone to collect his gear from the locker room, and he had found a half dozen packets of condoms taped to the front of his locker. His face flaming, he couldn't get out of there fast enough. And the sly comments from his colleagues as he made his way out of the building. He couldn't get out of there fast enough.

And after that he had just walked, needing to get his thoughts straight. He felt so desperately confused over his feelings for the two attractive men who had entered his life. Except one of them wasn't a man, but something much darker and more frightening. Ricky swore softly, and shivered at the sudden chill he felt. Well, at least his nose wasn't broken. For a moment, he had thought Krycek had broken it, but the bruising was spectacular enough, and just another source of speculation for his colleagues.

He ended up outside a construction site, a few minutes walk out of town, and sank down onto the edge of a steel girder, to sit and work things out.

His father would be the first to turn his back on his son. For years, John Caruso had called his son effeminate and spineless at the slightest hint of weakness. Now he would claim that he had known all along how the young fool would turn out. Nothing Ricky had ever done had pleased him. Wearing a police uniform was a poor second to joining the Marines and proving himself a man like his father had in 'Nam and many other conflicts, as a serving military officer.

Ricky pulled out his shining Police shield and stared at it in hopeless misery. Failed yet again! Just like his father said he would! With a low cry of grief, he flung the badge as far as he could, and heard it clatter among some nearby sewer pipes that were piled up, awaiting installation in a nearby trench. What was the point of it all? His career was finished, and he was sure that the Police Chief would spread the word about his failures if he tried to get another job in law enforcement. For a moment, he felt the hot sting of tears against his cheeks. Damn Kulain. Damn them all.

The distant sound of thunder seemed to echo his dark mood. Odd, so soon after fog. He didn't pursue the thought. His mind was still trying to sort out his troubles. What choices did he face in the end? Two of them. To go back home, tail between his legs, or to brazen things out with his fellow officers. Neither option would be easy.

He wasn't a damned quitter! Why the hell should he let them drive him out of town! He could at least try to repair his faltering career. Then at least he would have done his best. Besides, facing his father was by far the worst option!

Shit! He had just thrown his badge away! He cringed at the thought of explaining away its loss to the already furious Chief. With a sigh, he scrambled over a pile of gravel, and began to search for the lost badge. It took a lot of searching, but at last he found it. More or less. He only found it when he noticed a tiny gleam of something reflecting the distant streetlight, from deep inside one of the narrow sewer pipes.

Ricky cursed softly under his breath and shrugged off his jacket. Perhaps if he made his body as small as possible, he could reach it. He stooped and began to worm his way into the narrow pipe. It just seemed wide enough. He was sure he was going to make it, if he kept his shoulders as close as possible to his body. He strained forward with his arms, finding one or two imperfections on the inner side of the pipe which enabled him to inch himself forwards. His shoulders and chest were now inside the narrow tube, squashed painfully close to the side of the pipe. His police shield was now within a few inches of his left hand, but in order to reach it, he would have to stretch that small distance. There was only one possible solution. With a kick of his feet, he managed to edge those extra few inches, leaving his feet dangling off the ground, and greatly reducing the leverage his body had.

Got it!

He began to wriggle his body backwards, to exit the pipe. And found to his complete disgust, that he was stuck fast. The pipe must have imperceptibly narrowed, because his shoulders were immovably wedged in the cramped space. And now with his legs and lower body dangling out of the pipe, he was unable to gain any purchase at all to help his movements.

//Shit!//

********

The sorcerer had completed the ritual. Ten human bodies lay in contorted positions in a huge circle, as he raised a cone of power, using their pain to call on the dark gods. He knew, almost from the instant that he had begun, that it would be a success. And the moment he spoke the final syllables of the ritual, he felt the nameless one come in a blast of icy cold air that knocked him off his feet. And with the downdraft, there was an almighty detonation of thunder as the other crossed over into the human world. For a moment, there was a stunned silence, then the sorcerer saw a strange luminescent glow hovering in the air. With a suggestion about it of writhing tentacles and teeth in a mouth that resembled a giant squid's beak. The sorcerer felt even his dark soul begin to wither at the sight. Then the light plunged towards one of the recumbent bodies, and the corpse stirred and sat up.

The sorcerer's eyes widened in surprise. An unexpected choice of host. But on second thoughts quite masterful. There was advantage in this. He grinned savagely, and went to make his respectful obeisance to the god-possessed body of Officer Grace Mayberry.

********

Ricky had faced more than one humiliation in the last few days, but this would definitely end his career. Full stop! Not that he would be censured. No, worse. Trapped head and shoulders in an old pipe, ass in the air! He would be laughed out of town. He pressed his head to the concrete floor of the pipe and silently offered the powers-that-be anything to get him out of this mess.

Long minutes of yelling for help later, he knew that there was no one within range of his increasingly desperate shouts.

Worse, it was getting cold as night fell, and he was probably going to be in bad shape if he had to stay the night here. Another desperate wriggle only served to jam him tighter in the pipe. Surely some passer by would see his body sticking out and investigate. It wasn't every day you saw a uniformed cop in this sort of situation.

The hand that slowly stroked its way down his outer thigh was totally unexpected. He yelped in shock. Then relief flooded him; he had been found. He wasn't going to spend the night on the damn construction site.

"Help me! Please. I'm stuck fast!" Ricky's voice was still slightly shrill from panic.

"So I see, Officer Caruso." A darkly velvet chuckle followed his rescuer's remark.

//Oh god! Kulain!//

Of all the people who could have found him, it had to be the only one Ricky didn't want to be touched by. He wriggled again, desperate now. If things had been bad before, then now he was really scared. He would rather have spent the night here than stay another moment in Kulain's utterly disturbing presence. Eventually, he subsided, stifling his totally useless struggles.

Fingers slowly traced down his thigh again. This time he knew who was touching him, and the implications of that particular being touching him like that didn't escape him.

"Don't.......," he pleaded, but somehow his voice had faded to a whisper. "No...."

The response was laughter.

"Do you know what a pretty offering you make, Officer Caruso? How tempting your body looks like that? The hand strayed across him, unavoidable, no longer on the outside of his leg, but stroking the inside of his thigh now, working its way oh so slowly upwards. He squirmed, but the hand followed his movements. Inescapable. Relentless.

So very good.

He felt his body begin to react, the swelling hardness that seemed to be his body's inevitable response to Kulain. And this time he was helpless to get away from the demon. The touch was a velvet softness at the top of his thigh, straying along the crease at the top of his leg.

//No!//

He could feel that so-delicate caress against the base of his balls, across his perineum. He couldn't escape it, could only submit to the demon's attentions. If only that touch wasn't driving him out of his mind! Without realising it, he was panting now, part of him responding to Kulain instinctively, wanting to offer himself. He moaned in denial.

The light tease of semi-clawed fingers continued until they found the evidence of his body's betrayal, then there was another chuckle.

//Oh no! Anything but this!//

Ricky Caruso squirmed in humiliation. Tried to pretend *this* wasn't happening to him. Tried to force away his unwilling arousal by thinking of zombies, monsters, whatever his mind could conjure up.

//........Spreading himself on silken sheets..........//

"So, little one. That's the way of it!" The demon caressed the bulge between Ricky's legs. He could almost perceive the way Kulain must be smiling wickedly. He had to try one more time to persuade Kulain to free him.

"Please...... Help me *out.* Don't do this, I'm begging you...."

"I can help you out..... Oh yes!" Kulain was almost purring. Ricky realised with sudden horror, that what he had said could have a double meaning. And they both knew which interpretation Kulain would prefer. With an incoherent sound of dread, the young cop struggled wildly.

Then he felt it, the gentle touch of long fingers undoing his belt and then removing it.

It was going to happen then, as he had feared for so long. And he was helpless before it. He began to quietly sob, trying to ignore his hated physical reaction to Kulain. The *want* that even now was making a mockery of all his protests. It was worse that the demon's touch was so unexpectedly gentle. Almost considerate.

Arms went round his waist, and momentarily he could feel the warmth of Kulain's body pressing into him from behind. With an unmistakable maleness that felt iron hard, between his ass cheeks. Ricky hated it that Kulain's warmth felt so good in the cool night air. He hated the wave of anticipation that made his own erection surge, and most of all, he hated the hand that gently drew down his zipper and slipped inside, freeing his erection from the painful constriction of his clothes.

Kulain began to slowly and methodically strip his prize and there was nothing Ricky could do to stop it.

And his cock was so hard now that it was bobbing against his belly, already oozing wetness, cool against the evening air.

There was an absence of sensation for a few minutes, then the warmth was back, delicious and so much hotter than before, as Kulain's body again pressed against his from behind. Ricky realised that now they were both naked, and he whimpered softly. He would find out then, what that great erection that he had seen before felt like. That was even now a probing hardness against him.

"Relax little one. I don't want to hurt you....... Surrender to me......"

Ricky shook his head, before he realised that Kulain wouldn't see it. But the movement of his body must have told Kulain his prey's intentions, because there was a soft sigh. He felt the warm breath exhaling against his back.

"So be it!"

There was a finality about the response that made Ricky whimper. Then the fingers were back, something cool and slick on them making him shiver. Then he realised Kulain's intent and screamed, even as the first finger began to slide inside him. He went wild, trying to get away, not only from the trap he found himself in, but his own betraying body. For the touch that was gently working open his tightness was like nothing he had ever experienced before.

//So *very* good//

Eventually, he stilled, when he realised that he was in fact making it easier for Kulain, his struggles somehow taking on the rhythm of the unhurried strokes that were repeatedly entering and withdrawing from his body. Then two fingers were in him, opening him. Then three. Moving inside him with exquisite thoroughness. Touching sensitive virgin flesh, indescribable, not hurting now, but drawing his body and mind into that leisurely rhythm.

Kulain smiled in satisfaction. Ricky was his now, his beautiful body moving in time to the sliding fingers that were stroking his prostate. The young cop was moaning wantonly, seeking the touch that was driving him crazy, trying to follow the demon's caresses, his legs fallen open and his ass raised high. For a while, the demon had doubted whether this fiery young human could be tamed, but the happy accident of finding Ricky in such a compromising position was greatly to his advantage. Nor would the human be able to deny his own pleasure. Kulain stared down at the lush body beneath him, so open and ready. And with another of his wicked grins, resolved to ride this human to his limits and beyond while he had the opportunity. For his latest feisty lover would be more than a little annoyed when he was freed. Though by then he would be firmly in Kulain's possession.

//What was happening to him? Why couldn't he keep his body still? He wanted....... wanted.........//

Ricky moaned, long and deep, no longer fighting. It was as if there was something incomplete inside him that craved this. And he no longer had the power to resist. In fact, the slow movement of Kulain's hand was driving him out of his mind. Then the touch was withdrawn. Ricky wailed at the sudden emptiness, begging incoherently for the touch to begin again. He heard distant laughter.

"Do you want me to stop now, little one?"

Sobbing with need, before he could stop himself Ricky pleaded for more. Then, suddenly, something huge and diamond hard was forcing its way inside him, with a relentless pressure that made him scream in pain.

//NO. This wasn't what he had begged for. This wasn't pleasure. This was......//

Kulain's pretty human was ready for his initiation into the mysteries of demon sex. There had been time to engage in a little mindfuckery. Making the human beg for his own conquest. It was more satisfying, and the young cop would have no way of denying his own consent.

Ricky was so very hot and tight as the big demon pushed his way in. Kulain was as gentle as possible, considering his latest partner was being taken for the first time. He carefully worked his way deeper, until finally, he was impaling the other. He could hear the small noises of distress Ricky was making, and stilled his movements, so that the human could grow accustomed to his larger partner. Then finally, moving cautiously at first, he began the human's initiation into undreamed of pleasures.

//It hurt.//

Despite the surprising care he sensed from Kulain, Ricky twisted in discomfort, unable to escape his fate. He was only half-aware of his partner's gently soothing caresses, and the strong arms holding him steady. His trapped fists clutched the badge convulsively. Then mercifully, Kulain began to withdraw. Momentarily, Ricky gasped in relief. Then the demon was pushing back into his prey, in the start of an indescribable rhythm. And on the third stroke, the demon changed the angle of his attack, and Ricky screamed, as a pleasure beyond anything he had ever experienced exploded into his body.

He lost whatever sanity he had for long minutes after that, as he was taken so expertly that he would have sold himself without a thought to stay in those strong arms, feeling that incredible fire. Wanton once again, he spread himself as wide as he could and begged deliciously for more. He could no longer hold back his moans of passion. No one had ever hinted it could be like this!

Kulain sheathed himself repeatedly in the luscious body, feeling his conquered new pet writhing and shameless, his previously demure disposition forgotten. He felt the human's body begin to tighten convulsively around him and speeded up his thrusts, to match the human's timing. Ricky began to scream. The sound was like a trigger to Kulain, a signal that ignited inhuman instincts to plunder his prey ever deeper, and strive for release.

Ricky came, jetting semen splattering his stomach and once again staining part of his shirt. And felt a sudden hot surge inside him, even as he slid into a dead faint.

Kulain sagged forward over the unconscious human, momentarily spent, then kissed the younger man's shoulder. Ricky moaned softly.

With a satisfied expression, Kulain exerted his immense strength to free the human from his temporary prison. He laid Ricky on the ground and knelt by him, gently stroking the human's tousled hair. And yielding to temptation, quickly licked the human's seed away off his plaything's flat belly. There was of course the problem of the human being infected by his seed. He pressed his fingers to the sides of the human's abdomen, and traced black fire along the smooth skin in a release of energy. He had acted to suppress the change for a while, since he had the power to delay infection for a while, if Ricky was kept close to him. An evolutionary advantage. No point in frightening the already nervous human any further. Then with a grin, he gently bit the warm shoulder, marking his prey as his.

Green eyes flickered open eventually, and dazedly looked up at their new master. Kulain leaned forward and kissed Ricky, enjoying the human's dreamy response. He knew that Ricky would taste himself, and he was amused when he saw the human flinch in sudden realisation of what the flavour was within his mouth. The human awoke fully and tried, too late, to rid his mouth of the taste.

"Son of a bitch!" Ricky's face went white, then red with anger. "You rotten, twisted bastard....!" The anger at his treatment at Kulain's hands took over. Ricky recoiled from his lover, and shook his head in denial. Then, as Kulain watched with amusement, Ricky fumbled desperately with the pile of clothes near his feet, his dignity hopelessly compromised. His hands shaking, the human fumbled until he had covered his body up again, then fled the scene in revulsion. Already, somewhat predictably, the human was trying to deny in his mind the arousal he had felt, the way he had begged......

No matter. The little human would soon learn who his master was. And what a useful purpose he served, as a vessel for Kulain to quench his lust in. And more. As soon as Ricky began to change, as demon DNA altered his body, he would have no choice but to yield to more powerful males in Kulain's pack. It was interesting to contemplate whether the feisty young cop would compete for dominance with his other altered humans. Kulain's possessions would, in the end, establish a pecking order, or hierarchy of dominance, with Kulain at its head.

Ricky and Alex would fight. Delightfully spirited, both of them. So much more entertaining that way, and if he manipulated the situation in the right way, both would compete against the other to please him. And of course the other demons *would* be envious of him if he appeared among them with a matched pair of altered humans. With that pleasing thought, he started to move towards the hotel, to clean his body of the scent of sex.

********

Ricky sank down, shuddering, onto a convenient pile of sand at the other end of the construction site, out of Kulain's sight. Then he flinched as tender tissues in his rear protested at the rough treatment he gave them. The stab of discomfort served to remind him exactly what he had just done, and with whom. To his horror, he could also feel the slight wetness and stickiness between his legs, where a demon's semen was slowly oozing its way out of his body. Sobbing, he drew his knees up and tried to ignore the state of his body, the numerous abrasions and bruises left by his various encounters that day.

//Why had he done that? When the demon had finally offered to stop, why had he begged for more? Why hadn't he fought harder?//

His thoughts a whirlwind of confusion and despair, he buried his head in his hands and cried. How long he did that would ever elude him, but it was probably only a few minutes. What brought him out of his state of self induced misery was the sound of footsteps as more than one person approached.

He couldn't face Kulain again. Not like this! Instinct took over, and scrambling to his feet, he dived behind the pile of sand. Not a moment too soon. A quick glance told him he *definitely* didn't want to meet this particular group. Half a dozen of those horrific zombies and two hooded figures. A thin individual whose face was hidden, and a shorter person, who had a suggestion of femininity in *her* movements. The group headed towards town, even as he watched.

Ricky was momentarily frozen with horror. The memory of the previous encounter he had with the creatures was fresh in his mind. But he *couldn't* just sit by and let them ambush some poor sap in town. He had to follow and try to counter whatever they were going to do. Carefully, he rose from his hiding place and began to follow at a distance, occasionally cursing to himself as his feet encountered some bodily detritus that had fallen from one of the not-so-fresh walking corpses.

********

Kulain frowned. Something was not *right* with the night. Something undefined and nebulous that set his instincts on edge. A suggestion of evil. He, of all beings in the town, was most sensitive to its influence. There was some force at work that night that was inimical to his kind, and it bothered him that he couldn't pin down its cause. He should have been able to detect any threat easily enough, his power was strong enough. He stopped and cast his mind and senses outwards, trying to detect the *wrongness.*

Nothing!

Just the normally beneficial darkness of the night.

It *wasn't* right!

And his humans were out there, unguarded.

He turned and began to hurry towards the place where he had left Ricky. As the most vulnerable, it made sense to collect the young cop first. He smiled slightly despite his worry, Ricky would no doubt have to be persuaded to obey, which would be more than a little enchanting.

The weight that hit him between the shoulders and brought him crashing down was totally unexpected. He sensed the foulness of a zombie, and twisted with desperate strength to throw it off him. It was sent crashing into a nearby wall, but he knew it would be on him in a moment. It couldn't, after all, be killed. He started to shift so that he could deal with it in the traditional way. Using his claws to rip it to a million pieces, so that it could never rise again. And his mind crashed into an unexpected barrier. A spell or force of some kind had been cast around him, preventing him from assuming his most efficient form.

//How?//

And how hadn't he detected the zombie long before its odorous approach? The answer was quick in coming. Two shadowy forms stood watching him. The authors of his misfortune. With a growl of rage, he reached out his mind to draw upon the power that could blast worlds into dust.

The smaller of his opponents gave a small laugh, and matched his power with an immense force of its own. The struggle began.

********

Ricky had given a sigh of relief when he had first seen Kulain. Now things would be alright. *His* demon would fight and defeat the other, and everyone would be safe. Kulain was the Lord of Washington, one of the most powerful of the demons. Nothing could defeat him.

But before he could yell in warning, things had begun to go wrong. For some reason, Kulain hadn't even seemed to notice the zombie until it attacked. Then stranger still, he had just stood still, staring at the smaller of the two hooded enemies.

No, not staring exactly. It was more like he was watching a struggle without physical form. And even as he realised this, things began to go wrong for Kulain. Ricky saw the demon's face suddenly register the shock of recognition, as if he had only just realised who his opponent was. Then there was the flare of lightning, wreathing both opponents for a moment. And a sudden, explosive detonation, light flaring for an instant as bright as the sun. When the dazzled Ricky finally regained his sight, he saw with disbelief, Kulain lying still on the ground at the foot of a wall, unmoving. The hooded woman gave a mad cackle, and gestured with her hand. The wall cracked from top to bottom, and in slow motion, toppled onto the motionless body, hiding it from sight.

Frozen with horror, Ricky could only stare in disbelief, as the zombie masters and their pack moved away, triumphant.

*******

His hands were cut and bleeding from pulling at the sharp brick fragments, but Ricky continued to dig frantically into the pile of debris, desperate to find Kulain. It must have taken him over half an hour, but finally he unearthed the demon's body. He didn't even understand why he cared. Why the tears were running down his face as he dug, tracking through the dirt on his face more than once.

He stared desolately at the unmoving body, then tugged with all his strength, dragging Kulain free of the rubble. Then somehow, he managed to turn the demon over so he could look at the other's face once more.

Why? With never a thought of finding the help he knew would be useless.

Why was he pressing his forehead to Kulain's, weeping hot tears as sobs racked his body? Why did he cry Kulain's name and clutch at the strong shoulders, shaking the other in an almost frantic need? Why did he feel as though he had been abandoned like a youngling? He found himself clinging to Kulain, with the other's head resting on his lap.

It was his hot tears dropping onto Kulain's face as he clutched the demon that finally brought a response.

"........Ri......Ricky......"

The softest of whispers, a ghost of a smile. With an inarticulate cry of relief, the young cop found himself clutching Kulain tighter.

".....Not so ...... easy to......ki..... kill...."

"I have to get you to a hospital! I have to......" Ricky was babbling in his relief.

"No!" Kulain's response momentarily became stronger. "Hide me, little one. I need time to...... to regain my strength. If they find that I live still......."

His youngling looked so unprotected, so vulnerable. For a moment, Kulain thought Ricky would balk at what he was being asked to do. The bonds between them were as yet so new and untried. The demon DNA that even now was making minute alterations in the human's blood and brain. A biological creation of new instincts. Then a new look of determination appeared and the young cop nodded slowly.

"Alright!"

The cop hurried away and returned a few minutes later in his beat up old Volvo. Then with a display of desperate strength, slid his arms around Kulain and began to drag the big demon towards the car. It was exceptionally difficult to manoeuvre Kulain's weakened body into the back seat, but after that it became easier. Within half an hour, Kulain was lying in Ricky Caruso's bed, deep in exhausted sleep.

*******

This was crazy! How the hell did he end up with a demon in his bed? Why had he felt such a deep loyalty to the one who had so recently used him........?

It was just *right,* that was all. It felt *good* to have Kulain's approval. It felt *very good* to touch his lover's body, even like this.

He wasn't aware that minute changes were taking place in his body chemistry, even now. That endorphins, the addictive natural pleasure chemicals produced in his brain, were being released into his bloodstream when he was close to Kulain, training his body in subtle fashion to respond to Kulain's desires.

And though he would feel consternation later at his own actions, it felt perfectly natural when he crept into the bedroom and curled up on the bed next to Kulain, and slept.


End file.
